Introduction ; i ' 4 . fo Loo

On Prayer

INTRODUCTION

THE OccASION OF THE TREATISE ON PRAYER

HE TREATISE On Prayer AND The Exhortation to Martyrdom are distinctive among the extant works of Origen as being occasional in respect of their composition, that is to say, they were called forth by the special needs of a particular incident. De Faye! styles them, happily enough, Eerits de Circonstance. It was otherwise with the De Principius, in which Origen deliberately attempted to give a systematic exposition of theology, or the Hexapla, the fruit of his textual studies, or the commentaries and homilies which he poured forth during his lifetime as an expounder of Holy Scripture. The Contra Celsum, although it was an answer to a particular book, the True Word of the philosopher Celsus, can hardly be ranked as an occasional writing, since it was composed about seventy years after the book to which it was a reply. But the Exhortation to Martyrdom was written for the immediate object of consoling and exhorting two of his friends who had been cast into prison for their faith.

And the treatise On Prayer arose, similarly, out of a particular occasion. Just as I Corinthians may be said to have been written, at any rate in part, in order to answer certain questions put to Paul by the Corinthian Church or individuals in it, so also On Prayer arose, as we shall see, out of a specific question about prayer. In both cases, the answer in scope and fullness far transcended the limits which the particular situation necessitated.

The year when On Prayer was written can be determined with more or less exactitude.? A topical allusion has been usually found in the language of XXVIII, ro: "Certain persons, I know

1], 190.

2 See Koetschau, I, lxxv—Ixxvii. De Faye follows Koetschau in the matter of date (I, 190, 191).

ON PRAYER

not how, arrogating to themselves powers beyond the priestly office, perhaps because they have no accurate grasp of the knowledge that a priest should possess, boast that they are able to pardon even idolatry and to absolve adultery and fornication, on the ground that by means of prayer offered for those who have committed these deeds even the stn unto death is absolved."'

The most obvious reference in this is to be found, not to powers exercised by martyrs and confessors (who were not necessarily priests), but to Callistus, Bishop of Rome (c. 217223), who was accused by the rigorist party of that day, and notably by Hippolytus, of laxity in the matter of pardons and absolutions; and since the plural ("'certain persons'') is used, the reference is extended to include the successors of Callistus, namely, Urbanus (223-230) and Pontianus (230-235), under whom the Hippolytean schism is supposed to have continued.

With this controversy, at(any rate in its earlier stages, Origen was personally acquainted, for he visited Rome about the year

212, and listened, at least on one occasion to the preaching of Hippolytus, who at that time was engaged in his feud against Zephyrinus, the predecessor of Callistus, whom Zephyrinus had made his archdeacon.3 Origen's temperament would naturally lead him to support the rigorist party.

Literary allusions in the treatise serve to date it more exactly.

(1) In XXIII, 4, Origen refers to his comment on the passage Gen. 3:8, 9. Now the Commentaries on Genesis were begun at Alexandria, and eight volumes were written there,* the remaining four being added at Caesarea. In the twelve volumes he only covered the first four chapters of Genesis.5 The comment on Gen. 3:8, 9 can hardly therefore have been in one of the earlier volumes; and in any case he speaks of the Commentaries on Genesis as a completed work: "'we have treated these matters at length in our Commentaries on Genesis."' This places the treatise

On Prayer after his removal to Caesarea, 1.e., after 231 or 232.

(2) There is a reference in XV, 1, in the words "'as is shown elsewhere," to the tenth tome of the Commentary on John. The present tense is taken by Koetschau and de Faye to indicate that this Commentary was still in process of being written. In any case tomes vi—-xxii were written, after Origen had left Alexandria, in Caesarea, and, according to Koetschau, between 232 and 235. Therefore 233 or 234 may be conjectured as the date of the composition of the treatise On Prayer. (3) Further, in this

3 Lawlor and Oulton, II, 201.

4 Eusebius, H.E., VI, 24.

5 Contra Celsum, VI, 49.

6 X, 37 (21); Brooke, I, 230.

ORIGEN treatise there is no reference to martyrdom, although the opportunity to do so is not lacking." This is a reason for placing its composition before the persecution of Maximin (235-237).

The immediate occasion of the treatise was a letter addressed to Origen by his friend Ambrose, in association with a lady named Tatiana, which stated, either on their own behalf or on that of others, certain objections and difficulties in regard to the practice of prayer.' From this letter Origen quotes a passage which makes it quite clear what was the nature of the difficulties urged against it. "First: if God knows the future beforehand, and it must come to pass, prayer is vain. Secondly: if all things happen according to the will of God, and if what is willed by him is fixed, and nothing of what he wills can be changed, prayer is vain."'9

Had Origen been acquainted with Milton, he might have pointed out to Ambrose and Tatiana that such questions were discussed and discussed in vain by the fallen angels, who: reasoned high Of Providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate,

Fix'd fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute, And found no end, in wandring mazes lost. 1°

But to evade a difficulty, or to give it up as insoluble, was never Origen's way; and least of all could he have adopted such a method towards a request made by Ambrose. He was, of course, none other than his devoted patron, friend, and admirer, to whom he owed both the incentive to produce books (if indeed

Origen needed any such incentive) and also the abundant means to produce them. As to the incentive, Origen playfully refers to Ambrose as his task-master or slave-driver (épyoduwKTyns: Ex. 3:7; 5:6-14); and in a fragment of a letter printed by Delarue (I, 3) gives a lively picture of his importunities. "The holy Ambrose . .

. supposing that I am'a zealous worker and utterly athirst for the word of God, convicted me by his own zeal for work and passion for sacred studies

. for neither when we are engaged in collating can we take our meals, nor, when we have taken them walk and rest our bodies. Nay, even at the times set apart for these things we are constrained to discourse learnedly and to correct our manuscripts. Neither can we sleep at night for the good of our bodies, since our learned discourse extends far into the evening. I need not mention that

7 E.g., XXV, 3; XXIX, 2.

ST, enV eee 9 V, 6.

10 Paradise Lost, 1, 558-561.

ON PRAYER

our morning studies also are prolonged to the ninth, at times to the tenth, hour.''!1 Ambrose was equally insistent in supplying

Origen unstintingly (for he was a wealthy man) with the means to produce his commentaries, and also, we cannot doubt, such a treatise as the present one. Thanks to his liberality, as Origen dictated "'there were ready at hand more than seven shorthand writers, who relieved each other at fixed times, and as many copyists, as well as girls skilled in penmanship.''!2 The picture reminds us of a professor today in a university in the New World, who can command unlimited resources in respect of money and material and helpers for the production of learned works covering a vast field of inquiry. Therefore we can understand how

Origen, even when engaged on a large and important work such as the Commentaries on John, could at the same time break in upon it and also produce a treatise which not only answered the particular questions propounded to him by his friends, but also

(as we shall see) went on to deal with prayer in general and to give a lengthy exposition of the Lord's Prayer. His mind, through long training and practice, was fully equipped with a working knowledge of the principal philosophical systems. His knowledge of Holy Scripture was unrivalled. As an exegete his skill was remarkable. With all this knowledge and capacity in himself, he had only to dictate what flowed from his teeming brain to the shorthand writers. Eusebius notes that there were more than seven of them and that they relieved one another at fixed times. No doubt when Origen was dictating such an arrangement was as humane as it was necessary. Then the '"copyists"' transcribed the shorthand into longhand. And finally the girl scribes produced neatly written copies of the work.

Later on we shall give an analysis of the treatise. It is sufficient to say here that Origen himself gives a brief description of its contents in ch. XXXIV when he speaks of having treated (1) the problem of prayer, and (2) the prayer that is found in the Gospels, and the preceding context in Matthew. We must add, however, to these a third section containing a supplement to the general discussion of prayer, which should more appropriately have come after section (1). The work was, in fact, somewhat hastily put together, and Origen seems to have been aware of this, for in his concluding words he expresses the hope that he may be able "'to treat again of these same matters with greater

11 See Lawlor and Oulton, II, 219 f.

12 Eusebius, H.E., VI, 23. Cp. J. de Ghellinck, Patristigue et Moyen Age, II, 215 f.

ORIGEN breadth and elevation and clarity,' and adds "for the present you will read this book with indulgence." Furthermore we can detect throughout the composition signs which indicate a diversity of aim. Origen, in fact, wished at one and the same time to answer the questions of Ambrose and 'Tatiana and dissipate their doubts, to handle the subject of prayer generally, and finally to give an exposition of the Lord's Prayer. As a result, both here and in the treatise On Martyrdom, matter which should have been combined is broken up, and Origen repeats himself.13 These faults in structural arrangement, however, do not seriously detract from the general "effect" of the treatise, which is perhaps the most readable of his works,!4 and reveals attractively many of his characteristic qualities. To these we shall now turn.

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ORIGEN

To a student of Church History, the most obvious aspect of Origen is that he represents the Greek element in meer ie as did also his predecessor in the Catechetical School at Alexandria, Clement. We cannot, however, simply leave the matter there, but rather must go on to ask, which characteristics in the Greek genius does he exemplify? The moment this question is asked, we begin to see that we must qualify such a general description and distinguish between certain elements within it.

Origen shows, for example, little appreciation of Greek literature as such.!5 In his day, at Alexandria, Homer was the bible and the foundation of secular letters. His poetry represents, perhaps better than any other writer, the soul of the Greek genius and the imagination of the race. Origen cites him frequently in his other works, and calls him "the best of poets,"'!® but he shows little appreciation of his purely poetical qualities. It is the same with the other, rather few, Greek poets that he quotes from or refers to, such as Hesiod, Euripides, Aristophanes,

Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius. The references to Hesiod are particularly significant, as de Faye points out.!7 This poet inspires in him no admiration. He makes fun of Celsus because he calls him a divine poet. He appears to find no grace or beauty

13 Koetschau, I, lxxxi.

14 "No writing of Origen is more free from his characteristic faults, or more full of beautiful thoughts." B. F. Westcott in D.C.B., IV, 124.

15 See de Faye, I, ch. 14.

16 Contra Celsum, VII, 6.

17 J, 215.

ON PRAYER

in the description of the formation of Pandora, which he transcribes. In fact, Hesiod is for him only a retailer of myths. For the prose writers of Greece in the day of its glory Origen shows no greater appreciation, nor for its art.

Neither does Origen exhibit the Greek genius in his style and method of composition. Not for him the "nothing too much" or *'the half is greater than the whole." On the contrary, he is diffuse, discursive, repetitive. His immense erudition, and especially his Biblical knowledge, frequently leads him aside into irrelevant digressions. The torrent of words and exuberance of ideas are at times reminiscent of the opening chapter of Ephesians.

They certainly do not recall the reticence and restraint and economy of the classical period of Greek literature. If Greek

""balance"' is to be seen at all in Origen, it is in his grasp of the Christian revelation as a number of related truths. His De Principiis is the first and perhaps the greatest work on systematic theology. But this attempt "'to see life steadily, and see it whole"' was due, I imagine, less to an inner sense of artistic completeness than to a grasp of divine revelation as a unifying principle. That God shall be all in all was the vision which dominated his thinking and gave form to his conception of all things whether in heaven or on earth.

The Greek element in Origen is most truly seen in his love of inquiry and speculation. His training in philosophy and his subsequent teaching of it implanted in him the habit, which became a second nature, of asking questions, of probing into the meaning of things, and of conjecturing when no certain answer could be found. As a Biblical student, he is never tired of wresting from a passage its inner meaning, of comparing one passage with another and of confronting difficulties that may thereby arise. After the manner of the schools his custom is to bring forward an objector imaginary or real. This method of conducting an argument occurs again and again. Perhaps we owe Paul's doctrine of the resurrection body to the question of an inquiring and quick-witted Greek: But some one will say, How are the dead raised?18 We meet the same kind of thing frequently even ina treatise such as On Prayer.!9 And this is not surprising because for Origen Christianity was chiefly an illumination of the reason, which by itself and without revelation was incapable of knowing God, and growth in grace was a deeper and deeper apprehension of divine mysteries and of the Logos as he communicates himself more and more to the soul of man. So it was that living

18 T Cor. 15:35es :

19 See p. 270.

-ORIGEN in a day when few, at any rate in Alexandria, questioned the validity of the allegorical method of interpreting the Scriptures,

Origen regarded it as one of the highest achievements to pierce beneath the outward and obvious meaning of a passage to the hidden and esoteric meaning that lay beneath. And even if such a meaning escapes our present understanding, Origen is sure that it exists and is known to the divine Logos "'who has contemplated the Father's will."'2°

It would be a great mistake, however, to picture Origen as a mere intellectualist and his religion as simply and solely a kind of higher gnosis. The intellectual side of him was balanced by purity of soul, flame of devotion and virtue of life. ""Dedicated to God" or "genuinely devoted to God''2! was for him a description of the true Christian. If, on the one hand, he seems to lay much stress upon prayer as contemplation of God, on the other he speaks "'of the whole life of the saint as one great unbroken prayer," since he "combines with the prayer the needful deeds and the prayer with the fitting actions."'22 Again and again he reminds us of the duty of love and forgiveness, a virtue which, in view of his cruel wrongs, he had himself much occasion to practise.23 From boyhood his soul was aflame for martyrdom; and there is little doubt that the end of his life was hastened by the tortures he endured for the name of Christ. Origen was indeed one of those rare souls whose light "shineth more and more unto the perfect day."'24 Whether his doctrine of the pre-existence of souls is true or false, it seemed from the first that his body was inhabited by something from another sphere. "It is said that many a time his father would stand over the sleeping boy and uncover his breast, as if a divine spirit were enshrined therein, and kissing it with reverence count himself happy in his goodly offspring."' 25

In his capacity for combining as a unity in himself intellectual passion with warm personal devotion to God in Christ and the practical virtues of a Christian, Origen is perhaps unique among the Fathers. He had many disciples, and has had many followers, but never one of them who equalled him in this. Arnobius could write a long work without revealing a distinctively

Christian spirit. Boethius could keep his philosophy and theology apart, and write The Consolations of Philosophy without betraying that he was a Christian. We have only to reflect for

20 XXVII, 14.

21 IX, 2; XIII, 5.

22 Alt, 2; 23 See IX, 33 XXVIII, 7, 8.

24 Prov. 4:18.

25 Eusebius, H.E., VI, 2:11.

ON PRAYER

a moment to see that such detachment would be impossible for Origen. John Scotus Erigena is a kind of "'throw-back'' to Origen across a gulf of some six hundred years, and like Origen was a great intellectualist: but we have no reason to suppose that he matched him as a devotional or practical Christian.

Hence, to follow Origen in his never-resting spirit of inquiry concerning all things would inevitably involve for lesser mortals a less sure grasp of Christianity as a way of personal life. This thought has been beautifully expressed in the lines of Isaac

Williams in the Lyra Apostolica:

Into God's word, as in a palace fair, Thou leadest on and on, while still beyond

Each chamber, touched by holy wisdom's wand, Another opes, more beautiful and rare:

And thou in each art kneeling down in prayer, From link to link of that mysterious bond

Seeking for Christ: but oh, I fear thy fond And beautiful torch, that with so bright a flare

Lighteth up all things, lest the heaven-lit brand Of thy serene Philosophy divine Should take the colourings of earthly thought,

And I, by their sweet images o'erwrought, Led by weak Fancy, should let go Truth's hand,

And miss the way into the inner shrine.?°¢

THE TREATISE ON PRAYER AND ORIGEN'S ORTHODOXY

The concluding words of the poem just quoted lead us naturally to consider those questions concerning Origen's orthodoxy that arise out of the Treatise On Prayer. The first of these is concerned with the Person to whom prayer should be addressed.

It is commonly stated that Origen teaches that prayer is to be made to God alone, and not to Christ. This is not quite accurate.

Origen, following I Tim. 2:1, makes a distinction between four forms of prayer, namely, "'supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings" (XIV, 2). Of these, he says, "intercession and thanksgiving'' may be addressed to all men, Christians ("'saints'') or not, while "supplication"? may be made to "saints" only

(XIV, 5). It follows, then, a fortiort, that '""thanksgiving'' and "intercession"

(and "'supplication'?) may be addressed to 26 I owe this reference to A. R. Whitham, History of the Christian Church,

138.

' ORIGEN Christ, 'who has wrought such benefits for us by the will of the Father'; and indeed Origen quotes from Scripture an example of intercession to Christ, namely, the words of Stephen, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge."'27

It is only, then, "prayer" in the special sense of the term that is to be addressed to the Father alone. Origen defines this kind of prayer as follows. "Prayer," he says, "'is offered in a dignified manner with ascription of praise by some one concerning matters of importance."'28 He gives two examples of this, which, however, do not quite seem to square with his own definition: (1)

"A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, with a song. O Lord, I have heard thy voice, and was afraid: O Lord, I perceived thy works and was astounded; in the midst of two living creatures thou shalt be known, when the years draw nigh thou shalt be observed.''29 (2) "'Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and he said, I called in my/affliction unto the Lord my God, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell thou heardest my crying, even my voice. Thou didst cast me forth into the depths of the heart of the sea, and the rivers were round about me.''3° But in the first of these it is not easy to see what are "the matters of importance"? concerning which the prayer is offered; and in the second there is no ascription of praise. It would seem, therefore, that Origen has not quite clearly thought out the distinctions he is endeavouring to make. Still, however, the fact remains that in the De Oratione he does not allow

'prayer' as he defines it to be offered to Christ, but to the Father only. And it is this limitation, chiefly, that caused the treatise to be under a cloud, and added yet another reason for holding its author suspect.

The point obviously raises the whole question of Origen's doctrine of God, upon which, I suppose, the last word will never be said. The matter is further complicated by the fact that often we cannot be at all certain what Origen actually did write, for many of his works are extant only in the Latin translation of Rufinus, who is notoriously and admittedly unreliable as a translator. It cannot be doubted that he frequently altered

Origen's language in a more orthodox direction. I have showed that he did this also with some phrases of Eusebius of a doubtful theological character.3! Hence only those passages of Origen of which the original Greek is extant can be safely trusted to give his meaning. But it is not difficult to see that Origen's language

27 Acts 7:60.

28 XIV, 2.

29 Hab. 3:1, 2 (LXX).

30 Jonah 2:1, 2, 3.

31 F7.T.8., XXX, 153-156.

ON PRAYER

concerning the relation of the Son (or the Word) to the Father must fail to be satisfactory from an orthodox point of view.

Origen started from the conception of an absolutely transcendent God. God is intelligence, simple, invisible, incorporeal, or even beyond intelligence and being (substance), and cannot be comprehended save by him who was after the image of his intelligence.32 God is above truth, wisdom, light,33 and even above eternal life.34 Elsewhere35 Origen discusses whether God is not also beyond substance, and leans to the conclusion that he 1s; for we cannot say that he partakes of substance: rather, he causes all beings, the Logos included, to partake of it.36

On these premisses, such a conception as that of the Logos was essential, on the one hand, if revelation were to become possible for man; and, on the other, it was very difficult in relating the Logos (or Son, for the terms for Origen are interchangeable) to God to maintain their co-equality. In fact, Origen postulates a real subordinationism; and the logical outcome of it all is seen in the present passage, in which he teaches that "'prayer"'' is to be directed to the Father alone.

In respect of this matter, two extreme attitudes towards Origen have been taken in later times. Some have aimed at establishing his orthodoxy in the terms of the Nicene Faith, labouring in the effort to explain or explain away everything that seems to point in the opposite direction; and such defenders have also brought to their aid the works of Origen known only in the Latin translation of Rufinus, although it is certain that Rufinus made them appear more orthodox than they really were. The opposite school has roundly accused Origen of heresy.

Both of these have forgotten that Origen was the child of his environment and of his age. His philosophic background at Alexandria provided him with a conception of God into which it was very difficult, if not impossible, to fit a doctrine of the essential Trinity. And, secondly, Origen lived before the controversies and the great conciliar decisions of the fourth and fifth centuries had given formal expression to the Catholic Faith.

At the begining of the third century thought was fluid on these matters.

In his endeavour to systematize and state Christian theology Origen was a pioneer, and made the mistakes of a pioneer, especially as he was a daring pioneer. Many of his speculations

32 Contra Celsum, VII, 38.

33 In Foh., II, 23 (18).

34 Ibid., XIII, 3.

35 Contra Celsum, VI, 64.

36 De Faye, III, 31, 32.

ORIGEN were simply speculations, upon which the Church has not pronounced an opinion; and we may let them pass. In other matters, including the doctrine in question, Origen failed to reach the position which was afterwards seen to be orthodox. But Origen never intended heresy, or to set his opinions against those of the Church.37 Eusebius tells us that when only seventeen or thereabouts Origen could not be persuaded to associate in prayer with a certain heretic named Paul "keeping the rule of the Church, even from boyhood, and 'loathing'—the very word he himself uses somewhere—the teachings of the heretics.'" And it is interesting to note that—to go no further than this present treatise—Origen refers to heretics and heretical teaching in a way that betrays no sympathy with them or it, but very much the contrary; and he certainly would have been distressed beyond measure, had he been told that one day he would be classed among them. For example, in SCXII, 3, he speaks of "numbers of heretics" who for their own purposes say Jesus 1s

Lord. In XXIV, 5, he refers to the "'most impious conceptions" and "godless thought" contained in Tatian's interpretation of Let there be light. In X XIX, 10, we have a vigorous passage, denouncing those who misinterpreting the Scriptures fall into error concerning the Son and the Father. In XXIX, 13, we have a clear reference to the Marcionites, who "'have imagined a God other than the creator of heaven and earth because they find many such things in the Law and the Prophets and have taken offence against him as not good who utters such sentiments."' And lastly, when in V, 1, he is dealing with objections to prayer, he roundly denounces those who reject prayer completely as "downright atheists"' who "deny the existence of God"' or else as people "who go as far as to accept the name of God but do away with his Providence." These passages make it clear that Origen was definitely on the side of orthodoxy as he conceived it.

Moreover, Origen was essentially a Biblical theologian, and his subordinationism sprang not only from his conception of Deity but also from what he conceived the Scriptures to teach.

Texts that he quoted for this purpose were, ""The Father is greater than I" (John 14:28); "That they should know thee, the only true God" (John 17:3); '"Why callest thou me good?"

(Mark 10:18); and especially I Cor. 15:28: ''And when all things have been subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected to him that did subject all things unto him,

37 HLE., VI, 2:14.

ON PRAYER

1gI that God may be all in all.'"'38 Similarly, in support of prayer to God alone he turns to Scripture.3? If prayer is to be offered to the Father, it is to be offered in the name of Christ, as taught in John 16:23, 24. Christ is the high priest (Heb. 2:17, etc.), and therefore prayer is not offered apart from him. Christ is also the brother of those who pray (Heb. 2:12); and "'it is not reasonable that those who have been deemed worthy to have one Father should pray to a brother.''4° It is not suggested that Origen always drew the correct conclusions from these passages. But it is clear that he wrestled with Scripture as concerning the relationship of the Son to the Father, and that he believed that he had extracted its true meaning. The moral to be drawn from the whole controversy is that though Origen failed to satisfy

Catholic orthodoxy, as it was expressed later, it still remains to examine Scripture more closely in order to discover from it such an exegesis as is consistent with the doctrine of the essential

Trinity. Origen's mistakes will not have been in vain, if they lead us to a fresh investigation of this matter.

The second point which threw suspicion on the orthodoxy of the treatise On Prayer is one which will not cause us so much concern today. In XXXI, 3, Origen says that it has been shown by those who have treated of the matter that the bodies of heavenly beings are spherical. The sources from which he drew this conclusion are given elsewhere.4! The modern Church may be disposed to receive such a notion with humorous indulgence.

But it was not so in earlier times when Origenistic controversies waxed hotly.42 As we shall see, the Emperor Justinian included this opinion among the nine tenets for which he anathematized

Origen; and it is also to be found among the fifteen '""Anathemas against Origen"? which, though not properly part of the proceedings of the Fifth General Council, contain contemporaneous matter discussed and circulated at that time. The opinion, therefore, that heavenly bodies are spherical severely damaged the treatise in orthodox eyes, especially as Origen goes so far as to say that the opinion had been "'demonstrated."'43 No doubt, opposition to the notion was bound up with a literalistic conception of the resurrection of the body or flesh which prevailed in the early Church; and as Origen was supposed to be unsound on this matter generally, the particular fancy concerning the sphericity of celestial bodies was fastened on by his opponents in an age when orthodoxy and dogmatism were often confused.

38 Cf. XXV, 2.

39 XV, I, 2.

40 XV, 4.

41 See pp. 381, 382.

42 See p. 232.

43 The word he uses is dodederypevwv.

ORIGEN CHARACTERISTIC IDEAS OF ORIGEN IN THE De Oratione Besides the two particular ideas mentioned above, the treatise

On Prayer also contains much of Origen's characteristic outlook.

1. Relation between body and soul, seen and unseen, earthly and heavenly As a Platonic idealist, the whole thought of Origen is dominated by the conviction of the inferiority of the material and visible as compared with the immaterial and invisible, and consequently by the dualism involved in this outlook. Characteristically, at the outset of the treatise44 he quotes the words of Wisdom of Solomon 9:15.

A corruptible body weigheth down the soul, And the earthy frame lieth heavy on a mind that 1s full of cares; and he speaks of the human mind as "'still imprisoned in the body.''45 The same conviction appears also, under various forms, in his treatment of the supposed saying of the Lord: "'Ask for the great things, and the little things shall be added unto you; ask for the heavenly things, and the earthly things shall be added unto you."'4° He invariably interprets the "great'' and "heavenly" things as spiritual. blessings, the "'little' and "earthly" things as material blessings. "It is clear," he says,47

"that allsymbolical and typical things are 'small' and 'earthly' in comparison with the true and spiritual things." It is thus that we are to interpret passages in the Old Testament which speak of the saints there as requesting material blessings: "In all likelihood the divine word ..

. indicates the 'heavenly' and 'great' things by means of matters connected with 'earthly' and 'little' things, saying [to us], "Ye who desire to be spiritual ask in prayer, so that having received them as 'heavenly' ye may inherit the kingdom of heaven, and as 'great' ye may enjoy the greatest blessings; but the 'earthly' and 'little' things, of which ye are in want for bodily necessities, the Father will supply unto you in accordance with the measure of your need." In -accordance with this principle, Hannah, Hezekiah, Judith,

Jonah, and the Three Holy Children, although Holy Scripture speaks of them as having received earthly benefits or deliverance, received in reality spiritual blessings which far outweighed the former.48 We can obtain today such spiritual blessings as the 447, 1,

48 XVII, 2.

46 II, 2,

47 XIV, 1.

48 XVI, 3.

ON PRAYER

Old 'Testament spoke of in type.*® Earthly blessings are indeed only the "shadow" of spiritual blessings; and just as the sun may not cast a shadow at all in certain circumstances and at certain latitudes, so some spiritual blessings are accompanied by no earthly blessing.5° Those on earth are hampered by certain impressions arising from attendant circumstances and so have a tendency to follow the worse course, but this is not so with those in heaven, who possess a soul that is perfected by reason and alien to the influence of these impressions, and make use of a body that is ethereal and absolutely pure.5! One of the benefits of prayer for us is that "'the eyes of the understanding are lifted up, away from converse with earthly things and occupation with material impressions,"' and therefore they "'can transcend created things.''52 And finally this principle governs entirely

Origen's exegesis of ''Give us this day our daily bread."'53 As we shall see when we come to consider his exposition of the Lord's

Prayer clause by clause, the bread that Origen would have us pray for is no material substance.54 Origen appears to indicate the philosophical basis of his conviction concerning the inferiority of material things in ch. XXI, 2. "No material or bodily thing is single; but every one of them, though reckoned single, is split up and cut in pieces and divided into several parts, having lost its unity."' And since, in accordance with Greek belief, "'virtue is one, vice is many,'"' therefore the multiplex character of material things demonstrates this imperfection. Consistently with his general position, Origen quotes5s from Ignatius5® with approval the saying "'nothing that is seen is good."' But Origen, nor yet Ignatius, did not push this statement to its logical conclusion. Just as Ignatius vigorously asserts, in reply to gnostic error, the reality of the Eucharist, so Origen5' attacks "those who completely reject objects of sense, and use neither Baptism nor Eucharist."' Such persons, according to him, are influenced by the persuasions of Satan.

2. Immatertality of God This follows from the foregoing. It was one of Origen's firmest beliefs, and duly finds a place in this treatise, especially in ch. XXIII in connection with the words "which art in heaven."'

*'When the Father of the saints is said to be in heaven, we are

49 XITI, 3, 4, 5.

50 XVII, 1, 2.

51 Ch. VII.

52 TX, 2.

53 Ch. XXVII.

54 See pp. 212, 218 ff., 361 ff.

55 XX, 2,

56 Romans, 3.

SHU it A.C.—13

194.

ORIGEN not to suppose that he is circumscribed in bodily fashion and dwells in heaven; otherwise, if the heaven contained him, God would be found less than, because contained by, the heaven; but we must believe that by the ineffable power of his Godhead all things are contained and held together by him." Simple folk, however, take in a literal sense phrases in Scripture which seem to assert that God is in a place; and such passages must be given their true meaning. Thus, for example, whenin St. John's Gospel the Lord speaks of ''departing out of this world to the Father," of 'coming forth from God, and going to God," and so forth, and of the Father and the Son '"'coming" unto the believer and 'making our abode with him," these sayings, according to Origen, ''do not conceive of a local departure of the Father and the Son to him who loves the word of Jesus, nor are they to be taken in a local sense.'' Similarly, the words at the end of the same Gospel, 'Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to the Father" are to be taken in a mystical sense as an ascent of the mind rather than of the body. Again, we cannot take literally the passage (Gen. 3:8) which speaks of the Lord God ''walking in the garden." Is a literal garden so much larger than God that it contains him as he "walks" in it? We are, rather, to compare the passage "I will dwell in them, and walk in them" (II Cor.

6:16). God's "'walking"' in the garden is of the same kind as his "walking" in the saints. And, on the other hand, every sinner, like Adam and Eve, "'hides" himself from the presence of God, avoids his visitation, and shuns open speech with him, just as Cain "'went out from the presence of God" (Gen. 4:16). Again, in ch. XXV, Origen teaches that "'the kingdom of God"' is immanent and spiritual. The Saviour says (Luke 17:20, 21), "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, Lo, there! but the kingdom of God is within you"; and to this Origen adds the saying in Deuteronomy

(30:14), "for the word is very nigh, in thy mouth, and in thy heart."' This is comparable to the saying quoted above: "'We will come unto him, and make our abode with him." Every saint who takes God as his king and obeys the spiritual laws of God dwells in himself as in a well-ordered city. By God's kingdom is meant the blessed state of the reason and the ordered condition of wise thoughts.58

58 See further, pp. 216 ff.

ON PRAYER

3. Angels, heavenly powers and departed saints It is not surprising that Origen, for whom the unseen world was the great reality, should give the place he does to the ministry of angels and of those who have passed within the veil.

Chapter XI is devoted to this thought. Angels ministered to Jesus when he was on earth, and no doubt they still minister to him as he carries out his work for the salvation of men. Moreover, Scripture speaks of the angels in heaven rejoicing over the sinner that repenteth, and of the ministry of Raphael, as recorded in the Book of Tobit, in helping forward the prayers of Tobit and Sarah. So, according to Origen, we may assume that angels, who watch over things and minister to God, are at times brought into the presence of this or that man who is praying in order that they may join in his requests. Each one's guardian angel also joins in our prayers and gives us his aid.

With regard to the ministry of departed saints, Origen's line of thought is as follows. Love to one's neighbour, we are taught in God's Word, is one of the chiefest virtues. Care for the members of the body, the Church, is a mark of that love: and it is not only by those in this life that such love is exercised. Rather, ""we must hold that the saints who have fallen asleep before us exercise it towards those who are struggling in this life much more than do they who are compassed about with human weakness and are struggling in company with feebler folk."

Similar thoughts are to be found in ch.

XX XI, 5, 6, 7; only here it is not a question of the individual and his need of assistance, but of the Church when assembled for worship. On such occasions there is an invisible, as well as a visible, company present. Each worshipper's guardian angel is there to help him whom he is charged to guard, so that there is a double church, the one of men, the other of angels; and there are present also the spirits of those who are fallen asleep. The spot, therefore, where believers come together in one place, has a peculiar sacredness. There is a power, not of this world but derived from things invisible, present to that assembly, which is not to the same extent to be found in prayer offered by the individual believer.

4. Evil spiritual powers Belief in evil spiritual powers is correlative to the foregoing, and like it is based on Scriptural language. With Paul, Origen is convinced that "our wrestling is not against flesh and blood,

ORIGEN but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.''5? In XXVI, 3 he takes up the concluding words in this sentence. Why are we told to pray;

"Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth," if in heaven there are these malevolent powers opposed to the will of God? An answer to this is put forward in XXVI, 5, 6. "The mind is its own place." He who has his citizenship in heaven, though literally on earth, is no longer of the earth, but of heaven and the heavenly world. Similarly, the spiritual hosts of wickedness that still reside in the heavenly places have their citizenship on earth, and because of their evil disposition dwell no longer in heaven; for they have fallen in-mind with him who fell from heaven after the manner of lightning. Again, just as in an assembly of Christians for worship there is a twofold company,

-of holy men and of blessed angels, so there may be also in such an assembly a double gathering of a different sort, of wicked men and of bad angels: for church assemblies are not entirely composed of men genuinely devoted to God, but also, it may be, include some who have given themselves up to angels of the devil through their sins and wicked disregard of God.® Finally,

Origen finds no difficulty in the concluding words of the Lord's Prayer, '"'Deliver us from the evil one."' The presence and power of a personal devil was well within the content of his beliefs. He finds Scriptural warrant for it in the account of the temptations of Job, and those of the Saviour, and in the words of Paul already quoted—'"'the fiery darts of the evil one."

5. Ascetic view of life That Origen lived a disciplined and ascetic life is plainly stated for us by Eusebius.®! At any rate in his earlier days, "'he continued to live like a philosopher, putting aside everything that might lead to youthful lusts; all day long his discipline was to perform labours of no light character, and the greater part of the night he devoted himself to studying the divine Scriptures; and he persevered, as far as possible, in the most philosophic manner of life, at one time disciplining himself by fasting, at another measuring out the time for sleep, which he was careful to take, never on a couch, but on the floor. . . . He is said, for example, to have walked for many years without using a shoe of any description, yea more, to have refrained for a great many

$9 Eph. 6:12. so XXXI, 6.

61 H.E., VI, 3:9-12.

ON PRAYER

years from the use of wine and all except necessary food, so that he actually incurred the risk of undermining and destroying his constitution."

The treatise On Prayer, though not concerned with prescribing any particular mode of life, is entirely consistent with the description of its author as given by Eusebius. It is the work of a man for whom, as we have pointed out above, the body and bodily things held a negligible place. The conviction that the life of the spirit is everything is expressed in an eloquent passage in XVII, 1. "If spiritual things are present to us and we are being enlightened by God in the complete possession of what is truly good, we shall not waste words about the paltry thing that is the shadow. For all material and bodily things, of whatever kind they may be, have the value of an unsubstantial and feeble shadow, and can in no way be compared with the saving and holy gifts of the God of the universe. What sort of comparison can there be between bodily riches and the riches in all utterance and in all wisdom? Who that is not a madman would compare health of flesh and bones with a healthy mind and a robust soul and a balanced reason?" Again, in ch. X XIX, on "Bring us not into temptation," life is depicted as what Keats calls "'a vale of soul-making."' The whole of human life upon earth is a temptation. No one can escape from this discipline, rich or poor, high or low, healthy or sick. In this way God in his mercy shows us our weakness that we may discover his power, and gives us satiety of sin that we may be purified and come to hate what we formerly desired and retrace the path towards holiness. Even when temptation is not present, "in the times between successive temptations, we ought to take a firm stand against what is impending, and prepare ourselves for anything that may possibly happen, so that, whatever it may be, we shall not be proved unready, but shall be made manifest to have disciplined ourselves with the utmost care." ®? In addition to this general teaching there are also a few particular references which indicate the ascetic trend of Origen's mind. Prayer "as we ought" is hindered unless in the performance of the ineffable mysteries of marriage due regard is paid to gravity, infrequency, and the absence of passion.®3 'It is a question whether it is a holy and pure thing to intercede with God in the place where sexual intercourse occurs—I do not mean unlawful intercourse, but that which is allowed by the apostolic word 'by way of permission, not of commandment.' For if it is not possible to give

62 XXIX, 109.

63 II, 2.

ORIGEN oneself to prayer as one ought, unless given over to it by consent for a season, perhaps the same consideration should be applied, if possible, to the place.''6 He who has perceived what the beauty of the heavenly Bride and Bridegroom is will be ashamed to honour even with the same name of beauty the bodily beauty of woman or boy or man. Flesh does not contain beauty in the true sense of the word, seeing that all of it is shameful.®> But a more modest expression of self-control is found in XXVIII, 2:

'"'We are debtors in what we owe to ourselves in so using the body that we do not waste its strength through love of pleasure."

6. Allegory Speaking of the treatise On Prayer, Westcott®® says that "no writing of Origen is more free from his characteristic faults."

And if we count excessive allegorism as one of these, this opinion can be endorsed; for as compared with most of his other works he here indulges to a far less degree his flights of exegetical fancy. This is no doubt partly due to the fact that he is treating a subject, not commenting directly upon a Biblical text. Occasionally, however, in this treatise he betrays his penchant for this kind of thing. In XXVI, 3, in the petition ""Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth," "heaven" and "earth" are allegorized as "Christ"? and "the Church" respectively. The text in Proverbs (15:17), "Better a dinner of herbs where friendship and grace are than a stalled ox and hatred therewith," is interpreted as follows: 'The simple-minded Christian who cannot receive the stronger and more important points of doctrine, is to be preferred to him who though more skilful and quick-sighted yet fails to see clearly what concerns the peace and harmony of the whole, and indulges in high-flown words exalted against the knowledge of God.°7 When the three men turned in and lodged with Abraham and partook of food with him (Gen. 18:2-6), perhaps this is to be taken quite figuratively, for the saints are able to partake on occasion of spirtual and reasonable food with diviner powers, and the angels in turn are glad and nourished therewith and co-operate the more readily with him who nourishes them with the nutriment of teachings formerly prepared.°§ The exegesis of the dragon and the Ethiopians in Ps. 73:13, 14 (LX-X) and of Peter's vision in Acts, ch. 10, may also be referred to as curiosities. In XXVII, 14, Origen does

64 XXXT, 4.

65 XVII, 2.

66 D.C.B., IV, 124.

67 XXVII, 6.

68 XXVII, 11.

69 XXVII, 12.

ON PRAYER

not doubt that there are hidden meanings connected with certain Jewish ordinances such as the feast of the seven weeks and of the seventh month, and with the seven years of the freedom of the Hebrew servants and with the Jubile, and so forth, but these are part of the Father's unsearchable judgments and his ways past finding out, and are known only to the mind of Christ, who has contemplated the Father's will concerning his ordinances in all ages. A similar thought—that the inner mysteries underlying certain ordinances are things beyond man in this life—appears again afterwards in XXVII,

16. But Origen's most characteristic effort in the matter of exegesis in this treatise is to be found in XXIX, g. According to the LXX of Canticles 2:9, 10, the beloved is to be found "glancing through the meshes" ("'he sheweth himself through the lattice,"

Revised Version). The beloved is, of course, the Saviour. The meshes are the meshes of temptation, which the Saviour entered for the sake of those who were caught in them aforetime. He now promises deliverance to his bride, the Church, when he says: '""Rise up, come, my near one, my fair one, my dove." On the other hand, Origen occasionally manifests a strange, almost grotesque, literalism in expounding words of Scripture, as for example in VII, 1, when he argues that the sun and moon have a certain free will, because the Ean ast says, 'Praise ye him, sun and moon.'

7. Different grades of hearers One of Origen's most frequently expressed opinions is that there are two classes of Christians, the less mature and the more mature, to whom respectively teaching must be adapted according to their spiritual capacity to receive it. This idea he derived ultimately from the New Testament.7° And he found it suited admirably his style of Biblical interpretation. The "babes in Christ"? could receive and understand the plain, literal meaning of Scripture; but the inner, allegorical meaning could be imparted only to those who were spiritually "'fullgrown." This idea finds its place in the treatise On Prayer, as in all his writings. In II, 4, he suggests that even John the Baptist observed such a distinction, imparting certain teaching about prayer to some only of his followers. ''Simple folk,'7! when they read "Our

Father, which art in heaven," imagine that God is in a place; whereas this, and other passages open to a like misinterpretation,

70 T Cor. 3:2; Heb. 5:13, 14; cf. I Cor. 2:6.

71 XXII, +.

ORIGEN must be taken "in a loftier and more spiritual sense."

The discussion on "the daily bread" also gives Origen ample opportunity to express the idea of classes of hearers. 'he Word, which nourishes us is varied and diverse, for not all are able to be nourished with "the solidity and vigorous force of the divine teachings.''73 Those who are "'more perfect,'' when they read of '"bread,"' will understand it of "'the bread which came down out of heaven; not as the fathers did eat, and died." Then Origen goes on to quote I Cor. 3:1-3 and Heb. 5:12-14, and in their light to interpret Rom. 14:2: "One man hath faith to eat all things: but he that is weak eateth herbs." This saying is not principally concerned with bodily nourishment, but rather with the words of God that nourish the soul: the stronger man is able to partake of all teachings, the weaker and less perfect is content with simpler instruction. A similar thought is found in XXVII, 9: '""When the word of God is given either as 'milk' suitably for 'babes,' or as 'herbs' suitably for them that are 'weak,' or as 'flesh' seasonably for those who are contesting, each of those who are nourished, in proportion as he has offered himself to the word, can accomplish this or that thing, or becomes such or such a person."'

| On the other hand, in another passage in this context, Origen betrays an anxiety, based no doubt upon experience, that dangers may lurk for those who pursue such higher interpretations, for they may give rise to "high-flown words" proclaiming

"a doctrine foreign to the Father of our Lord Jesus who has given the Law and the Prophets' (the followers of Marcion seem to be intended). And this is indicated in Prov. 15:17:

"Better a dinner of herbs where friendship and grace are (i.e., simpler teachings) than a stalled ox and hatred therewith (i.e., heretical presumptions)."'

8. Free Will That man and all creatures of reason possess free will is a fundamental point in Origen's whole theological system, and is affirmed in all his writings.74 He believed in a pre-mundane

Fall, that is to say, that in the transcendent world a conscious act of will on the part of spiritual beings took place, whereby they fell from their high estate; and, further, that the return to God, in the case of such beings, will be achieved also by an act of free will. Moreover, since for Origen the action of God upon

72 XXIII, 5

73 XXVII, 4.

74 De Faye, III, 214.

ON PRAYER

human souls, in respect of their redemption and uplift, is always educative and disciplinary, it follows that God must have free creatures to respond to such education. It is not surprising, then, that when Origen is discussing the difficulties concerning prayer which his friends had brought to his notice (see p. 250), he should place in the forefront his reasons for believing in free will.75 These will be examined later on in this volume.7¢

Towards the end of the treatise'? the same conviction receives characteristic expression: "I verily believe that God orders every rational soul with a view to its eternal life, and that it always maintains its free will, and of its own motion either mounts ever higher and higher until it reaches the pinnacle of virtue, or on the contrary descends through carelessness to this or that excess of wickedness.' Then, in this latter case, after being glutted with sin, men may "hate what they formerly welcomed, and so when they are healed they can possess more securely the health that comes to their souls by being healed."

In XXIX, 15, we are told that "God does not wish that good should come to anyone as of necessity, but of free will." g. Universalism There are only a few allusions to this doctrine in the treatise.

In XXVII, 15, Origen says that "in the ages to come God will 'shew the riches of his grace in kindness':78 when the greatest sinner, who has spoken ill of the Holy Spirit, and is under the power of sin throughout the present age, will, I know not how, be under treatment from beginning to end in the ensuing age that is to come." It is implied that this "'treatment"' will be successful. Purification after this life is over is referred to in X XIX,

14, and in the following section the cleansing of even the most reprobate sinners.

10. Church Ordinances and Worship As a general rule Origen has little to say about these in his writings, and the present treatise is no exception, the greater part of which is concerned with private, individual prayer to God. Here and there, however, there are a few references to the visible order of the Church. In V, 1, Origen, when roundly denouncing certain persons who think that they ought not to pray, says that '"'the champions of this opinion" (which Origen

75 Chs. VI-VIII, 1.

76 See pp. 336 ff.

77 XXIX, 13.

78 Eph. 2:7.

ORIGEN attributes to the Evil One) "'are those who completely reject objects of sense, and use neither Baptism nor Eucharist." In XV, 4, he speaks of those who have received through regeneration the spirit of adoption that they may be called sons of God: but the reference to Baptism is not actually made explicit.

In XXVIII, 4, Origen speaks of the responsibilities of the several orders of ministers. ""There is a certain debt... due from a deacon, and another from a presbyter, but the debt due from a bishop is the heaviest, since it is demanded of him by the Saviour of the whole Church, and retribution follows if it be not paid.' Later on in the same chapter (sections 9 and 10) occurs the passage, to which reference is made elsewhere,79 about priestly absolution. Chapter XX-XI, 5-7, is the only passage that treats of prayer in the public assembly of the Church. In this

Origen touches on the superiority of public over private prayer, as arising from the probability that in the former there are also present invisible, angelic powers and spirits of departed church members, not to speak of the power of the Lord and Saviour himself. But the passage throws no light upon the nature of the worship or the order of service.

ANALYSIS OF THE TREATISE

Introduction Chapters I and II What is impossible for man alone is made possible by the grace of God in Christ. Paul, who says that we know not what we ought to pray for as we ought, also says that the Spirit helps us to pray. Uhe insufficiency of man's power was perceived by the disciple who besought the Lord for teaching on prayer.

Discussion of Prayer in General Chapters III to XVII

THE WORDS EUCHE AND PROSEUCHE

Chapters III and IV

OBJECTIONS TO PRAYER

Chapter V (a) By those who reject God altogether, or at any rate the idea of Providence.

79 Pp. 180 ff., 372 ff.

ON PRAYER

(b) By those who though they accept God and Providence yet maintain that everything is known to God beforehand and predetermined by him.

ANSWER TO THESE OBJECTIONS

Chapters VI to VIII, 1 (a) Free will is proved by the power of motion: to deny free will to man would mean that he was neither a living creature nor a rational being.

(b) In every day life we act on the assumption that we and others possess free will.

ADVANTAGES OF PRAYER

Chapters VIII, 2 to X, 2 The Scriptures are opposed to the foregoing objectors in that they speak in many places of the blessings that flow from prayer.

THE ANGELS, AS WELL AS CHRIST, PRAY WITH US

Chapter XI

OUR WHOLE LIFE OUGHT TO BE A PRAYER

Chapters XII to XIII, 1 (a) The meaning of "'Pray without ceasing."

(b) 'The example of Jesus in prayer.

EXAMPLES FROM SCRIPTURE OF ANSWERED PRAYER

Chapter XIII, 2 Examples given are Hannah, Hezekiah, Mordecai, and Esther, Judith, the Three Holy Children, Jonah.

SIMILAR PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED TODAY

Chapter XIII, 3-5 The material blessings obtained by the foregoing saints in the Old Testament are types of the greater, spiritual blessings that come to Christians by the Holy Spirit.

204, ORIGEN

PRAYER: (@) CONTENT (5) FORM (¢c) TO WHOM ADDRESSED

Chapters XIV to XVII (az) What we ought to ask for is made clear in the saying:

'Ask for the great things, and the little things shall be added unto you" (chs. XIV, 1, XVI,1—-XVII, 2).

(b) Forms of prayer: these are indicated in the four expressions, "'supplications,"'

"prayers,"

"'intercessions,"'

'"'thanksgivings," in I Timothy 2:1 (ch. XIV, 2-5).

Discussion of the Lord's Prayer Chapters XVIII to XXX

THE TEXTS OF THE LORD'S PRAYER

Chapter XVIII, 2; 3 Matthew and Luke do not hand down the same prayer.

THE INTRODUCTION TO THE PRAYER IN MATTHEW

Chapters XIX to XXI fest teaches us where and how we ought to pray:

(a) Notin the streets or in the synagogues (chs. XIX, XX).

(b) Nor with vain repetitions (ch. XXI).

OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN

Chapters XXII, XXIII

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

Chapter XXIV

THY KINGDOM COME

Chapter XXV

THY WILL BE DONE, AS IN HEAVEN, SO ON EARTH

Chapter XXVI

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

Chapter XXVII (a) By "'bread"' the Logos according to John is to be understood.

ON PRAYER

(b) The word for, "daily" (émvovovos) is to be derived from ovota, not from ézlevat.

FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS

AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN OUR DEBTORS

Chapter XXVIII (a) We have obligations to men and to God.

(6b) We are debtors all the time; similarly others are in debt to us.

BRING US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

BUT DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE

Chapters XXIX, XXX (a) All life is a temptation.

(6) Therefore the petition to be delivered from it is that we should not be overcome by it.

(d) The advantage of temptation is clear.

(e) But also the petition to be delivered from it is well grounded.

Supplement to General Discussion on Prayer Chapters XXXI to XX XIII

DISPOSITION AND POSTURE IN PRAYER

Chapter XXXI, 1-3

THE PLACE WHERE ONE OUGHT TO PRAY

Chapter XX-XI, 4-7

THE SUPERIORITY OF PRAYER TOWARDS THE EAST

Chapter XXXII

THE SUBJECTS OF PRAYER

Chapter XX XIII Conclusion Chapter XXXIV

ORIGEN

OrRIGEN's CONCEPTION OF PRAYER IN GENERAL

The theological starting point in Origen's treatment of the subject of Prayer is to be found in the absolute transcendence of God and the impossibility that man can know him or his will unaided.® '"What man shall know the counsel of God? Or who shall conceive what the Lord willeth? Hardly do we divine the things that are on earth. But the things that are in the heavens, who ever traced out?''8! Of ourselves, therefore, we do not know what we ought to say, when we pray, or how we should dispose ourselves to pray. But revelation has come to our assistance. The Scriptures tell us "what we ought" to pray about, and "how we ought" to pray. More particularly, there is the passage which declares that the Spirit himself maketh intercession to God on our behalf, as we address ourselves to prayer.82 And Origen also recalls how one of Christ's disciples, recognizing his human weakness and ignorance in the matter of prayer, said to the Master, "'Lord, teach us to pray.''83 Therefore, as he begins his difficult task, Origen knows that he needs the illumination of the Father, the teaching of the first-begotten Word, and the operation of the Spirit, if he is to treat worthily so weighty a matter, and accordingly he opens with a prayer that he may be able to speak rightly about prayer and to interpret rightly the prayers that are recorded in the Gospels.84

This introduction displays at the outset what is the outstanding feature of the treatise On Prayer and of all-Origen's works, namely, their unvarying Biblical character. No one else in the early Church had so intimate and profound a knowledge of Holy Scripture or was so unremitting in using it as the basis of all his teaching. It is not surprising, therefore, that with this strong Biblical background Origen should go on to speak of some of the words used for prayer in the Greek Bible, Old and New Testaments. In point of fact, however, this is the least valuable part of the treatise. The discussion in chs. III and IV on the words euche and proseuche fails to throw much light on the difference between them. The passage seems to have been hastily composed, and to be based upon reminiscences of certain texts rather than on a careful study of the terms in question.§5

Of greater value is Origen's discussion, in XIV, 2—5, of the four words used in I Tim. 2:1, namely, "supplication" (8énos),

"prayer" (mpocevxy), "intercession" (évrevéis) and "'thanks80 T, 1.

81 Wisdom of Solomon 9:13, 16.

82 Rom. 8:26, 27.

83 Luke 11:1.

84 TI, 6.

85 See note, p. 334.

ON PRAYER

giving'' (é€vyaptoria). He notes, correctly, that "supplication" is a petition offered for the obtaining of some particular thing, and that evrevéis (which does not necessarily mean what the English word "'intercession'' does—prayer in relation to others) involves the notion of a free or "bold" approach to God.

***Intercession,' he says, is a request to God for certain things made by one who possesses more than usual confidence."

Origen also notes the fact that "prayer''(zpocevyy) is a word reserved for address to God; whereas the other three, "'supplication," "intercession," "'thanksgiving,'"' may not unsuitably be addressed to holy men also.

But "prayer," according to Origen, is not simply asking God for something, nor are its benefits to be confined to the obtaining of what we ask for. On this point he is insistent: and indeed some of the most eloquent sentences in the treatise are devoted to expressing it. Great benefit, he says, results simply from a proper disposition or preparation for prayer. "'Without doubt he whose mind is set on prayer is in some measure profited merely by the settled condition involved in praying, when he has disposed himself to approach God and speak in his presence as to one who watches over him and is present.''8° 'The greatest benefits result from the attitude of, and preparation for, prayer, considered simply by themselves, of the man who has dedicated himself to God."'87 The calling to mind of a wise and famous man may check evil impulses and stir up to emulation. How much more profitable is it to recollect God, in whom we have put our trust, who knows the secrets of our heart, and is present with us!88

And not only in the mere disposition for prayer is there a looking up to God, there is also a looking away from earthly things and bodily impressions. Quoting the words of the Psalmists, "Unto thee have I lifted up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heaven,' and "'Unto thee have I lifted up my soul, O

God,' °° Origen goes on to say, ""When the eyes of the understanding are lifted up, away from converse with earthly things and occupation with material impressions, and when they are elevated so high that they can transcend created things and fix themselves solely upon the contemplation of God and of reverent and seemly intercourse with him who hears, it must needs be that the eyes themselves derive the greatest benefit, when 'with unveiled face they reflect as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, and are transformed into the same image from glory to glory.' 9!

86 VIII, 2.

87 [X, 2.

88 VIII, 2.

89 Pew 129275 90 Ps, 25:1.

91 II Cor. 3:18.

ORIGEN .

.. Moreover, when the soul is lighted up and follows the spirit and severs itself from the body . . . it must needs be that laying aside the nature of a soul it becomes spiritual." 92 He who prays must follow the precept of Christ,93 and enter into his own inner chamber, shutting himself in upon the riches laid up in store,

"the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' °4 He must never bend outside or gape at the things outside, but "shut every door of the faculties of sense, so that he may not be enticed by the impressions of sense and their image may not penetrate into his mind."' 95

But the mind of him who sets himself to pray has not merely to be free from sense impressions. He must also put away all angry or licentious thoughts.°° He must bear no malice or hatred in his heart. Thus he will observe the commandment of the Saviour when he says, "If ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against anyone." 97 By such preparation for prayer it is clear that we have already obtained the greatest benefits.

And, further, he must not approach God in prayer with a heart that is secretly discontented, grumbling against Providence and murmuring at its lot. Those who do this are like wicked servants who, though they do not openly cavil at their master's orders, nevertheless among themselves mutter their displeasure at them.

We are warned against this sort of thing in Deuteronomy?® in the saying, ""Beware that there be not a hidden word in thine heart, a lawless thing."' On the other hand, it is written of one who was sorely tempted by the trials of life to murmur:99 "In all these happenings did not Job sin with his lips before God."

This emphasis upon contemplation of God, apart from petition, and its benefits to the soul, is characteristic of one aspect— the mystical side—of Origen, which has been recently the object of numerous studies.! By its means, he says, by this mental catharsis, he who prays becomes more capable of union with God, and participates in the prayer of our Advocate, the Word of God, who stands in the midst even of those who know him not, and never fails the prayer of anyone.2 No doubt, for Origen, it was a stage on the way towards the heavenly vision, the epoptera of the Mysteries, which was and is the goal of all mystical aspiration. But it would be a complete mistake to suppose that Origen is unpractical and merely visionary in his treatment of the subject of prayer. Quite the contrary. It has been said that

92 TX, 2.

93 Matt. 6:6.

94 Col. 2:3.

95 XX, 2.

96 IX, 1.

97 Mark 11:25.

98 Deut. 15:9.

99 Job 2:10.

1 Cf. J. Daniélou, Origéne, 287 f.

2 X, 2.

ON PRAYER

mystics are among the most practical of people, and Origen appears to be an example of this fact, if it be a fact. For few writers have more definitely connected prayer with life, the vision of God with daily work, than he has in this treatise. He discusses} the meaning of Paul's command: "Pray without ceasing."'4 And it is to be noted that he makes no attempt to evade the difficulty evolved in it. Actual prayer, he says, ought to be engaged in not less than three times every day, citing the examples of Daniel5 and Peter® and referring to relevant passages in the Psalms. We can, however, regard "Pray without ceasing'' as a practicable saying if we include the performance of good deeds and the fulfilling of commandments as part of the prayer. "That man "prays without ceasing' who combines with the prayer the needful deeds and the prayer with the fitting actions." In other words, prayer and action based on it are not to be regarded as two things but as one, joined indissolubly together. Thus we can "speak of the whole life of the saint as one great unbroken prayer." No other saying about prayer links up prayer so closely with practical duties. It is not as if we said laborare est orare or orare est laborare, as if the one could be regarded as an equivalent substitute for the other; but rather that both form part of a connected whole. Nor is it a saying which strives to balance the two sides of the Christian life—the devotional and the practical—and secure a fitting proportion between them: its purpose is rather to infuse new meaning into each of them, when it is shown that they are so interrelated as to form an integrated whole. Later on in the treatise,' in speaking about the opening words of the Lord's Prayer, he returns to this thought, which was evidently for him no passing phrase. ""Do not let us think," he says, "that we are taught to say actual words at a certain fixed time of prayer. If we understand what has been said above in our discussion about 'praying without ceasing,' our whole life as we "pray without ceasing'® shall say,

'Our Father which art in heaven':9 its 'citizenship' shall in no wise be on earth but in every way 'in heaven,'!° which is the 'throne'!! of God, for the kingdom of heaven is seated in all those who 'bear the image of the heavenly,'!2 and are therefore themselves heavenly."

Origen's treatment of the practical benefits to be derived

3 XII, 2.

41 Thess. 5:17.

5 Dan. 6:10.

6 Acts 10:9-I1.

7 XXII, 5.

8 I Thess. 5:17.

9 Matt. 6:9.

10 Phil. 3:20, — 11 Cf. Isa. 66:1.

12 [ Cor. 15:49.

A.C.—14

ORIGEN from prayer, as apart from its contemplative side, is enriched and fortified by the examples he gives from the Bible of the personal advantages of prayer. In XIII, 2, he names, for example,

Hannah, Hezekiah, Mordecai and Esther, Judith, the Three Holy Children, and Jonah. In all these cases the results of prayer were manifest and notable. And he prefaces them by reference to the supreme example,!3 Jesus, who prayed and did not pray in vain, obtaining what he asked for, and on one occasion testifying to the Father "I knew that thou hearest me always.''14

If, as we have noted,!5 Origen begins his treatise with the thought of an absolutely transcendent God, he certainly does not leave us baffled and helpless when faced with God's awful remoteness. Origen, for all his transcendence, was no Deist. It is indeed rather from the intellectual aspect that he speaks of the vast gulf that separates God from men. Unaided, man can in no wise apprehend divine wisdom. But his doctrine of revelation is as clear and unhesitating as his doctrine of transcendence.

What is impossible for man alone becomes possible through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and his Holy Spirit.1° Through these channels mediation, illumination, grace, stream down from him who is above all. So it is that Origen's doctrine of prayer, and its benefits, is warm, rich and personal. To reject prayer, he says, is the tenet either of those who are downright atheists and deny the existence of God, or else of those who go as far as to accept the name of God, but do away with Providence.!7 On the other hand, the prayers commended by him are the prayers of those "'who are confident in themselves that they stand before and speak to God as one who is present and hears.' 18 It is evident that Origen was touched to the quick by the opinions subversive of prayer which his friends had communicated to him.!9 And this was so because Origen the intellectualist, the critic, the speculator, was also Origen the mystic, the devoted disciple and the practical Christian. The latter aspect of him is, naturally enough, prominent in this treatise, which for this reason is indispensable if we are to form a balanced view of the man as a whole.

Where Origen falls short of the richness of Bible teaching about prayer is in connection with the range of things for which the Christian ought to pray. As a Platonist he is convinced concerning the inferiority of the material world. It is shadowy, un-

13 XIII, 4.

14 John 11:42.

15 p. 330.

16 J, 1. ee i ts

18 VIII, 2.

19 See pp. 247, 250.

ON PRAYER

substantial and of small account as compared with the true, substantial and abiding invisible realities. Consequently, the things that we can see, hear and touch with the bodily senses, indeed the whole life of the body, are comparatively of little moment. And when we approach the invisible God in prayer, it is not for these bodily things that we are to pray, but for the spiritual only. As we have noted elsewhere, it is thus that Origen interprets the saying traditionally supposed to come from the Lord: "'Ask for the great things, and the little things shall be added to you; and ask for the heavenly things, and the earthly things shall be added unto you''?!—the "'little' and "earthly" things being, of course, the things of the body.

Accordingly, '"'earnest seekers after spiritual life in Christ" should "'turn away from prayer for trivial and earthly things," and pursue instead things mystical, of which the aforesaid are types.22 The Old Testament, indeed, tells of material benefits bestowed upon the saints in answer to their prayers; but these only foreshadow the greater, immaterial blessings that flow, under the New Covenant, to the Christian through prayer. If Hannah in her barrenness was given a child in answer to her prayer,23 so also "'souls that have long been sterile, perceiving the barrenness of their own reason and the sterility of their own mind, have by the Holy Spirit through persistent prayer conceived and given birth to saving words."24 Similarly, the deliverances from bodily dangers and death, vouchsafed to Hezekiah, Esther, Judith, the Three Holy Children, and Jonah, are but types of deliverances today from the spiritual hosts of wickedness. It is on these lines that, in XVI, 2, Origen answers an objection that may be made to his treatment of this matter, namely that the Bible tells of things pertaining to the body as being granted to prayer, and the Saviour speaks of such things as being ''added"' unto us. Take an illustration, he says, from ordinary life. ""Ifsome one were to give us a bodily object of any kind whatsoever, we should not say that such a one bestowed upon us the shadow of the bodily object. For in giving the bodily object he did not design to give two things, the object and its shadow, but the design of the giver was to give the bodily object: it followed, however, that with the gift of the object we also received its shadow. Similarly, when our understanding has grown in stature and we note what are the gifts which are preeminently given us by God, we shall say that bodily things are

20 Pp. 331 f.

21 TI, 2,

22 XIII, 4.

23 XIII, 2.

Lh ime * EX TIT ge

ORIGEN the most natural accompaniments of the great and heavenly ifts.""

In XVII, 1, Origen continues the same line of thought, and this time employs an illustration from the sun-dial. In some latitudes and seasons, he says, the gnomon of the dial casts no shadow. This causes no concern to the man who rejoices in the sunlight. "If a man who seeks the rays of the sun has this indispensable thing, he is neither rejoiced nor grieved by the presence or absence of bodily shadows. .

. So also, if spiritual things are present to us and we are being enlightened by God in the complete possession of what is truly good, we shall not waste words about the paltry thing that is the shadow. For all material and bodily things, of whatever kind they may be, have the value of an unsubstantial and feeble shadow, and can in no way be compared with the saving and holy gifts of the God of the universe." Likewise, the petitionary part of the model prayer outlined in XXXIII, 1, is to be concerned with "great and heavenly things."

This point of view is carried by Origen to its logical conclusion in his treatment of the petition: "'Give us this day our daily bread.''25 "Some suppose,"' he says, "'that we are told to pray concerning material bread.'' But the opinion is false and must be refuted. The Lord who has taught us elsewhere to pray for "great" and "heavenly" things cannot forget here his own teaching, and command us to ask the Father for a "'small'' and "earthly" thing. The true interpretation, according to Origen, is along the lines of certain sayings in John, ch. 6, as for example: "Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which abideth unto eternal life."'26 This spiritualizing of what seems on the face of it to be a petition for bodily sustenance is comparable with Clement of Alexandria's treatment of the "riches" which the young man in the Gospels was told to give up. "So with regard to the rich, who shall hardly enter the kingdom, we must understand the word in the spirit of disciples, and not clumsily, rudely, or literally; for it is not spoken thus."'27

Both passages illustrate the weakness of the Alexandrines in the lengths to which they will push their interpretation of Scripture in the interests of their philosophy of life.

Towards the end of the treatise Origen turns to particulars concerning the posture and the subjects of prayer. When we are praying, he says, "that attitude in which the hands are stretched out and eyes lifted up is to be preferred to all others."28 This

25 XXVII, 1.

26 John 6:27.

27 Quis Dives, 18.

28 XXXI, 2.

ON PRAYER

is an image of the qualities suitable to the soul and mind, by virtue of which the soul is intent upon its object and the mind directed to God. Standing (which Origen assumes to be the normal posture in prayer) is also a symbol, signifying that the reason is not earth-bound but lifted up towards the Lord of all.

There is, however, a kind of prayer which demands that we should kneel.29 "When one is about to accuse oneself of his sins before God, supplicating him for healing therefrom and for forgiveness thereof,"' then kneeling "is a symbol of the man who is abject and submissive."' But it is not clear if this refers to a particular prayer of an especially penitentiary character or to the penitential part of the model prayer that he outlines later on.3°

In praying, we should turn towards the east.3! It is the quarter in which the sun rises: therefore prayer in that direction is symbolical of the soul looking to the rising of the true light.

Prayer, says Origen, ought to fall into four parts according to subject.3° First, in the beginning or preamble, God is to be glorified through Christ in the Holy Spirit. Next comes thanksgiving, both general and particular. In the third place comes confession of sin, followed by prayer for deliverance from the habit of sin and for forgiveness of the past. In the fourth place, he who prays should "'add his request for great and heavenly things, his own and general, and also for his family and his dearest." Finally, the prayer should end as it began, by glorifying God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. Characteristically,

Origen bases these subjects of prayer on Holy Scripture, and gives examples therefrom of each of the four subjects.

ORIGEN's TREATMENT OF THE LORD's PRAYER

Chapters XVIII to XXX As a textual scholar Origen carefully distinguishes between the forms of the Prayer as found in Matthew and Luke, respectively.

It might seem, he says, to most people that these Evangelists record the same prayer. But he rejects this point of view on two grounds: first, on account of their differences; and, secondly, because the prayers are found in two different contexts: Matthew placing it in the Sermon on the Mount, Luke as the answer to a disciple who asked the Lord, '""Teach us to pray." So he thinks that perhaps the preferable view of the matter is that "the prayers are different, though they have some parts common."'33

29 XXXII, 3.

30 XXXII, 1.

31 XXXII.

33 XVIII, 2, 3.

ORIGEN It is characteristic also that before he speaks about the Prayer itself he should expatiate on the introduction to the Prayer in Matthew, with its teaching on how we are to pray— this point being a feature of this treatise. Indeed Origen himself reminds us that he has already dealt with the manner of our approach to prayer. Accordingly he has a good deal to say about the Lord's teaching concerning the manner of praying, as given in Matthew 6:5-9, upon which he comments at large in his usual discursive manner.

The texts, as given by Origen, in XVIII, 2, are, with one trifling exception,34 identical with those that underlie the rendering of the Revised Version. So the prayers are as follows:

Our Father which art in heaven.

Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And bring us not into temptation.

But deliver us from the evil one.35 and Father, Hallowed be thy name.

Thy kingdom come.

Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins; For we ourselves also forgive every one who is indebted to us.

And bring us not into temptation.3¢6 There is no reference to the variant "Let thy Holy Spirit come upon us and cleanse us" (in place of ""Thy kingdom come"' or "Hallowed be thy name"') which is attested by Origen's disciple Gregory of Nyssa among others, nor, of course, to the much later doxology. After dealing with the Introduction to the Prayer as given in Matthew, Origen proceeds to comment, at varying lengths, upon each petition separately.

34 In the Lukan version Origen has 7é édetAovre instead of dfetAovre, 35 Matt. 6:9-13.

36 Luke 11:2-4.

ON PRAYER

OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN

Chapters XXII, XXIII Origen notes from his express examination of the Scriptures for this point that to address God as Father in prayer is a distinctively Christian attitude, as distinguished from the usage of the Old Testament, where indeed God is often styled "Father" and men his "'sons,"' but not in a prayer. The use of ''Father"' in prayer by our Lord indicates a confident, firm and unchangeable affirmation as concerning our relationship to God. But a caveat is necessary. Sonship, according to Origen, is not simply a status, it involves character, good works, and a state of progressive conformation to the divine image. On the other hand, "'he that doeth sin''37 has within him the seed of the devil, and so long as it is inherent in the soul he cannot "right himself." It is when the Word of God dwells in him that it is possible for the works of the devil to be destroyed, for the evil seed to be done away with, and for him to become the child of God.

The words "which art in heaven" give Origen an opportunity which he is by no means loath to take of denying that God is circumscribed in bodily fashion and dwells locally in heaven.

If this were so, it would follow that God was less than, because contained by, "'heaven."' Such an idea arises from a too literal interpretation of these and other words in the Bible on the part of simple folk. But these passages must be understood in a manner that befits grand and spiritual conceptions of God. Origen then proceeds to mention some of them and to expound them in a spiritual sense. And he points out further that to suppose that God is in a place after the manner of a body leads to the most impious opinions, namely, that he is a body, and therefore divisible, material and corruptible. This vigorous passage shows us Origen at his best as an interpreter of Scripture. It has also an historical significance, inasmuch as in later times, 1n the fifth century, some of his most ignorant opponents—certain monks— attacked him on the score of his teaching that God must not be thought of as possessing anything like a human form.38

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

Chapter XXIV As arising out of this petition, Origen asks three questions:

(1) Can a man ask that the name of God be hallowed, as if it 37 I John 3:8.

38 F. J. Foakes Jackson, History of the Christian Church, 445.

ORIGEN had not been hallowed? (2) What is the "'name"' of the Father?

(3) What is its hallowing? The second question is answered first. A "name" is '"'a compendious appellation manifesting the individual quality of the being named. For example, Paul the apostle has a certain individual quality; a quality of soul, which makes it of a certain kind; a quality of mind, which makes him capable of contemplating certain kinds of things; a quality of body, which makes it of a certain kind. The individuality of these qualities, which is incommunicable to another (for no being is exactly similar to Paul) is indicated by the name 'Paul.'"'

To apply this to God—the idea that we are taught to have within us of God is that he is holy, and this conception of God is manifested to us in his several actions, when "he creates, foresees, judges, chooses, forsakes, receives, turns away from, deems worthy of honour, punishes each one according to his deserts."'

In this way the individual quality of God is characterized for us: and we have what is called the "name of God"' in the Scriptures.

Anyone who connects the idea of God with things that are not fitting "takes the name of the Lord in vain."' On the other hand, he who by his words refreshes, encourages or edifies the soul of another, is able to do this because of the '"'name"': for the character of God is seen in his action upon men for their own good and that of their fellows. So we come to question (3), What is the "hallowing"' of God's name? Origen quotes Ps. 34:3: "Let us exalt his name together.'' We are commanded here, he says,

"to haste unto the true and lofty knowledge of the distinctive being of God." "To exalt the name of God" is when ''a man partaking of Deity exalts that very power of God of which he has partaken."' The answer to question (1) is left to the end of the chapter. When we say, "Hallowed be thy name," though the verb is in the imperative mood, the meaning is optative ''may thy name be hallowed." This usage, says Origen, occurs frequently in the Septuagint. Tatian, in fact, imagined wrongly, from its frequent use, that it was always so, and accordingly fell into error concerning expressions in the first chapter of Genesis.

; :

THY KINGDOM COME

Chapter XXV For Origen the kingdom of God is immanent and spiritual.

He has no qualms, as some moderns seem to have, about accepting the saying in Luke "'the kingdom of God cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or Lo, there! but

ON PRAYER

the kingdom of God is within you."'39 Indeed, he combines with this the saying in Deuteronomy,*° "'the word is very nigh, in your mouth, and in your heart." "I think," he says, "that by God's kingdom is meant the blessed state of the reason and the ordered condition of wise thoughts." "Every saint who takes

God as his king and obeys the spiritual laws of God dwells in himself as in a well-ordered city.'' He draws a distinction between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Christ. The latter is rather a saving power that goes forth into the world and is seen in action. ""By Christ's kingdom is meant the words that go forth for the salvation of those who hear them and the works of righteousness and the other virtues which are being accomplished."' This distinction helps Origen to lead up eventually to one of his favourite texts, which speaks of the time when Christ

"shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father . . . that God may be all in all.'*4!

But the use of this text also indicates that for Origen the eschatological element in the kingdom of God was not entirely lacking. Indeed, when he speaks of the kingdom as being within us, he acknowledges that he may be met with the objection,

Why, then, should we pray: ""Thy kingdom come''? How shall a man "'still fittingly pray concerning things that are present already as if they were not present''? The answer is that spiritual knowledge and understanding (with which Origen's conception of "salvation" is largely bound up) must be a growing thing.

We have "the word of knowledge" and "'the word of wisdom" even now, but we nevertheless pray for these things, to receive more and more of them, so that in this present life our knowledge

"in part' will become as great as may be. When, however, "that which is perfect is come," the mind without sense perception will come in contact with spiritual realities, and without this the perfection of the ""kingdom"' cannot be. Our journey, therefore, in this life is "unto perfection"

;42 and as we advance unceasingly the kingdom of God that is in us will reach its highest point when the saying of I Cor. 15:28 is fulfilled. So we may fittingly here and now pray, "Thy kingdom come,"' even though "the kingdom of God is within us." Similarly also, in the moral life the work of God within us, begun now, will be perfected when our corruptible has put on incorruption, and the mortal has put on immortality.

39 Luke 17:20, 21. it 40 Dent S0°14.

41 T Cor. 15:24, 28.

42 Heb. 6:1.

ORIGEN

THY WILL BE DONE, AS IN HEAVEN SO ON EARTH

Chapter XXVI Origen points out that the words "'as in heaven, so on earth" are to be taken not only with '""Thy will be done," but also with "Hallowed be thy name" and "Thy kingdom come."

When we do the will of God when on earth, he says, we are made like unto those in heaven, inasmuch as we bear, as they do, the image of the heavenly and shall inherit heaven.

An objection to the petition is next considered. We are told that there are spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places,43 who bring about evil things on earth. If therefore we pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven, we may unwittingly pray that these opposing forces may remain on earth, to which they came from heaven. A solution to this difficulty is ready to hand if we allegorize "heaven" and "earth," understanding "'heaven'' as "Christ"? and "earth" as "the Church." We shall then be praying that even as Christ accomplished the Father's will in its entirety, so we, the members of the Church, being joined to Christ and become one spirit#4 with him, may likewise achieve it. (It is no objection to this that Christ says he has been given all authority in heaven and on earth;45 for Christ is both man and Saviour, man mingled with Deity, and therefore, both realms being his, he takes as his fellow-workers his disciples that he may bring the things on earth to a blessed issue.) But it still remains, on the ordinary interpretation, to explain how the will of God is done in heaven, when the spiritual hosts of wickedness are in the heavenly places, wrestling against those on earth. Origen replies, in effect, ""Because the mind is its own place." These hosts do not really dwell in heaven, because of their evil disposition; and therefore when we pray, ""Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth,'' it is not to be reckoned that they are in heaven, since they have fallen in mind with Satan who fell from heaven like lightning.4¢ Similarly, he whose citizenship is in heaven, though still on earth, is no longer of the earth in the world below, but of heaven and of the heavenly world that is better than this one.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

Chapter XXVII This is one of the longest chapters on the Lord's Prayer, and certainly the least satisfactory. Dominated, as we have already

43 Eph. 6:12.

44 I Cor. 6:17.

45 Matt. 28:18.

46 Luke 10:18.

ON PRAYER

remarked,47 by the Platonic conception of the material world, Origen dismisses the plain, literal meaning of this petition. In fact he asserts that it is a false opinion, to be refuted, to suppose that we are here told to pray concerning material (lit. '"'bodily'') bread.48 Accordingly, the ""bread"' we pray for is not the bread that is to lie on our tables, but the meat which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give. To feed on it is to feed on the spiritual teachings of Christ. "'What is more nourishing to the soul than the Word, and what is more precious to the mind of him who makes room for it than the Wisdom of God? And what is more appropriate to the rational soul than truth?''49

Scripture, however, calls every kind of food "'bread,"' and therefore the Word which nourishes is varied and diverse, for not all are able to be nourished by the solidity and vigorous force of the divine teachings.5° Thus Origen introduces us to one of his favourite thoughts, as we have seen,5! that of different grades of hearers who live on different levels of spiritual apprehension, and must be treated by the teacher accordingly.52

The unusual word for "daily" (émovovos) bread next claims Origen's attention. He gives his view that it was coined by the evangelists.53 He derives it from epi and ousia:54 (the bread that comes together) into substance, and he compares pertousios laos,55 the people (dwelling) around substance.

The mention of the word ousia is sufficient to set Origen off into a philosophical disquisition,5® and he now proceeds to give an account of the views of different schools of thought on "'substance."' This done, he shows that there must be a kinship in "substance"? between the bread given and the person who receives it. The bread, as he believes to have shown, is "spiritual."'

Therefore epiousios bread' "'is that which is best adapted to a reasonable nature and akin to it in its very substance: it provides at once health and strength and vigour to the soul, and imparts a share of its own immortality (for the word of God is immortal) to him who eats of it.''57 He ends this part of the discussion by references from the Bible to food partaken in common

47 See pp. 210 f.

48 Satay? te

49 XXVIII, 2.

VII, 4.

51 See pp. 199 f.

52 X XVII, 4-6.

53 See note, p. 363.

54 Elsewhere (section 13) he rejects the derivation from epzenat "to come close upon."

55 Ex. 19:5.

56 XXVII, 8.

57 XXVII, 9g.

ORIGEN by men on the one hand and greater and inferior spirituai powers on the other.58 There is no reference to the Eucharist.

The remainder? of the chapter is concerned with the meaning of "today" and ''day by day,"' which Origen interprets as this present age and successive ages, respectively.

FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS, AS WE ALSO HAVE FORGIVEN

OUR DEBTORS

Chapter XXVIII In contrast to his treatment of the foregoing petition, Origen expounds this one with refreshing realism. We all owe debts to one another, he says, not only in respect of money, but also in respect of particular actions, and gentle speech, and a charitable disposition. Further, there are debts to be paid because we are in a certain relationship to others—debts to our brethren in Christ, and debts due from us as citizens, as husband or wife, as a widow cared for by the Church, as a deacon, or presbyter, or bishop, and we have a debt to ourselves so to use the body that we do not waste its powers 1n pleasure. And, above all, we owe it to God to love him with all our heart and strength and mind; we are debtors to Christ, since he has bought us with a price, and also to the Holy Spirit. We are debtors also to our guardian angel, even though we do not know precisely who he is.

Others are in debt to us: but we must be gentle towards them, when they are slow in paying back, remembering the parable of the unmerciful servant. There is a limitation, however, in respect of our forgiveness of others, says Origen: and with this point he closes the chapter. It might seem, when Luke adds

"'for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us," that there is no such limitation. But the Lord said to the apostles,

"whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained,''® and John says: ""There is a sin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request."'6! In the law also a sacrifice might not be offered for presumptuous sins. It follows, then, that the Christian also, the true follower of Jesus, forgives what

God forgives, and retains such sins as God retains. This leads Origen on to refer to those persons®? who have arrogated to themselves powers beyond the priestly office and boast that they are able to pardon even idolatry and forgive even such deadly sins as adultery or fornication.

58 XXVII, 10-12.

59 XXVIT, 13-16.

60 John 20:23.

61 T John 5:16.

62 See p. 310.

ON PRAYER

BRING US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

Chapter XXIX It is not surprising to anyone who knows Origen that he at once faces the obvious difficulty confronting the interpretation of this petition. How can we be bidden, he asks, to use these words in prayer, when the whole of human life upon earth is a temptation?®3 While on earth we are compassed 'about with the flesh that warreth against the spirit,°¢ and we wrestle, not only with the flesh, but also against the spiritual hosts of wickedness?®5 And Paul tells the Corinthians, not that God will not suffer them to be tempted, but that he will not suffer them to be tempted beyond their power.°® Other passages of Scripture are brought in for the purpose of proving the inevitability of temptation. Even the apostles were not free from it, as is clear from Paul's account, in the Epistles to the Corinthians, of his trials and sufferings. Moreover, temptation assails men in every condition of life—the poor, the rich, the sick, the whole, persons of low as well as those of high degree, the abject and those who are held in high esteem. among men. Even the Saviour was tempted, and like the bridegroom in the Song of Songs, looking at us through the meshes of temptation, bids us arise.°7 Indeed, temptation lurks even in the reading of the Holy Scriptures, as is evident from the errors of those who, like the Marcionites,

°8 misinterpret the doctrine of God as it is set forth in the Old and New Testaments.

The true meaning, therefore, of the petition in the Lord's Prayer is "not that we may not be tempted (for that cannot be), but that we may not be encompassed by temptation, a thing that happens to those who are held fast in it and overcome."

(Similarly, Origen interprets the warning "not to enter into temptation''®? as meaning to avoid being encompassed b temptation.) It is impossible, then, to think that the good God should encompass anyone with evil and cause him to be held fast by it.

It may be said, however, that the Lord in giving the Prayer was speaking to men of prayer and exhorting them to prayer against temptation. What of those who do not pray, or those whose prayer cannot be heard? Can God lead them into temptation in the sense of being brought under itsdomination? This question

63 Quoting Job 7:1.

64 Gal. 5:17.

65 Eph. 6:12.

66 I Cor. 10:13.

67 See pp. 376 f.

68 They are not actually named.

69 Cf. Luke 22:40.

ORIGEN is suggested by such phrases as are found in the first chapter of Romans with reference to persons of dissolute character.

"God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness"; 'God gave them up unto vile passions''; ""God gave them up unto a reprobate mind."' The Marcionites cannot maintain that these words are used of the God of the law (who, they mistakenly suppose, is other than the good Father of our Lord

Jesus Christ) and therefore they must find in them a stumblingblock to their notions, Nevertheless, the difficulty in such phrases as '"God gave them up unto vile passions,"' as well as in "Bring us not into temptation," remains. How is it to be overcome?

Origen puts forward the following solution."

"T verily believe that God orders every rational soul with a view to its eternal life, and that it always maintains its free will, and of its own motion either mounts higher and higher until it reaches the pinnacle of virtue, or on the contrary descends through carelessness to this or that excess of wickedness." If the soul chooses the downward grade, and falls into a sinful state, it may be that a rapid and brief cure will cause it to regard lightly the disease into which it has fallen, so that after being restored to health it may fall the second time into the same condition. Therefore in such cases God may for a time disregard increasing wickedness up to a certain point, and even overlook it when it has developed to such an extent as to be incurable, in order that the soul may take its fill of evil, and being glutted with the sin it desires may at last become conscious of its evil plight and hate what it formerly welcomed. A parallelis adduced from "the mixed multitude'"' when in the wilderness they lusted after the fleshpots of Egypt.7! The Lord glutted them with the food they desired "for a month of days'? until it came out at their nostrils and became loathsome unto them.7? So also the kind and good God may even be said to "'give up"' men to their evil passions, in order to satiate them with their lust; that, this life ended, they may no longer wish to return to them, but recognizing their desperate condition may of their own free will come to hate that which they formerly desired and seek for heavenly things.

The chapter ends with a short account of the use of temptation. It reveals character. What our soul has received is unknown to all except God—is unknown even to ourselves; but it is manifested by means of temptations. Temptations when they come

70 XXIX, 13.

71 Num. 11:4-6.

72 Num. 11:18-20.

ON PRAYER

make it plain to us of what sort we are, make known the hidden things of the heart. This is clearly stated in Scripture, as, for example, in the passage in Deuteronomy which says that the trials in the wilderness were sent in order that the things in the heart of God's people might be made known.?3 Similarly, the temptations which beset Eve, Cain, the sons of Noah, Esau, and Joseph did not for the first time make them what they were seen to be, but rather manifested the weakness or strength that already lay in their characters. Therefore we must not wait until the temptations come, but prepare ourselves by the power of God in the times between temptations, so that we shall not be proved unready when they come.

DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE

Chapter XXX The student of Origen will not need to be told that he believed in a personal devil. Consequently, it is clear throughout the short passage which deals with this petition that he interprets tod wovnpod as masculine, with the Revised Version, and not as neuter with the Authorized Version. 'The passages of Scripture used to describe the assaults of the devil are Eph. 6:16 and Job, chs. 1 and 2. Origen expounds "Deliver us from the evil one'' on the same lines as "Bring us not into temptation."

God delivers us from the evil one, not when the enemy or the ministers of his will in no way attack us, but when we conquer bravely, taking a firm stand against circumstances. This is clearly indicated in the Book of Job. The patriarch was delivered from the evil one, not by immunity from attacks of the devil

(for the Lord gave him authority to attack Job), but by the fact that in all his trials "Job sinned not before the Lord.' The experience of the Saviour in the wilderness likewise illustrates the meaning of this petition. His deliverance consisted, not in absence of temptation (indeed, he was three times assailed), but in his conquest over it. As for ourselves, the soul must be prepared for such attacks, if we are to overcome them. We are to have within ourselves "'rivers of water springing up unto eternal life,'

74 if we are to quench "'the fiery darts of the evil one.''75

Contemplation of the truth will stamp upon the soul of the spiritual athlete inspired and saving thoughts for his use in time of need.

73 Deut. 8:2, 3, 15.

74 John 7:383 4:14.

75 Eph. 6:16.

224, ORIGEN COMPARISON WITH THE De Oratione oF TERTULLIAN Origen was not the first of the Fathers to write a treatise on Prayer and the Lord's Prayer, being preceded in this respect by about twenty years by Tertullian, whose work is placed between the limits of 196—20376 or 200—206.77 The purpose and scope of the two treatises are so different that any attempted comparison between them is certainly very difficult and may seem to be even misleading. Origen writes, as we have seen, primarily for Christians of standing and intelligence, who were disingenuous enough to propound questions which struck at the very root of the efficacy of prayer. Tertullian wrote for catechumens,78 who are described in his De Baptismo as "'those whom the grace of God awaits'; and he assumes without question the rationale of prayer. Again, as regards length, Origen's treatise occupies 106 pages of the Berlin Corpus of the Fathers, Tertullian's twenty pages only of the Vienna Corpus; and the treatments of the Lord's Prayer vary correspondingly in length. But against this disparity in length we must set the fact that Tertullian is as concise as Origen is discursive.

In spite of these differences of approach to the subject, however, a comparison between the two treatises may have its value, since no two men can traverse the same ground without revealing those differences which lie deeper than the mere setting in which their treatment of the theme is found, and also the common ground, great or small, on which, in spite of differences, they stand.

In this particular case, the common ground is by no means large. There are, however, a few points of resemblance between the two treatments of the subject. For both writers the Lord's

Prayer is the primary source and model of Christian teaching to which they refer. Again, both writers dwell on what the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. ch. 6) has to say about ostentation and "much speaking" in prayer. The distinctively Christian address of 'Father' in prayer is noted by both writers. And they both speak of the proper attitude of mind and disposition of him who comes to prayer. There must be no hatred of our brother, or anger, or even perturbation of mind.79

But at the outset of the treatment of the Lord's Prayer itself, 76 Harnack.

77 Bardenhewer and d'Alés.

78 "'consideremus itaque, benedicti," ch. I. For benedicti see De Baptismo, XX: "benedicti, quos gratia dei expectat."'

79 'Tertullian De Oratione, chs. XI, XII.

ON PRAYER

differences begin to appear. Origen is a critical, textual scholar.

He notes that the Prayer, according to the Gospels, was given on two different occasions, and that the text of the two prayers differs considerably. Before he begins his exegesis, he sets out the two texts,8° and continues to keep their differences before him.

Tertullian, on the other hand, ignores the presence of these differences (if he knew of them), and confines his exposition to what is broadly speaking a version of the Matthaean text; although, curiously enough, he begins simply with "'Pater,''8! as does the Lukan text. Even though his version contains at least one feature which must have been abnormal (he places '""Thy kingdom come" after '"'Hallowed be thy Name, Thy will be done in heaven and on earth''), he does not comment upon any facts of this kind.

In the exegesis of the Prayer much of the difference in the two writers is to be traced ultimately to a difference in philosophical outlook, conscious in the case of Origen, perhaps unconscious for Tertullian, and particularly in respect of transcendence and immanence, material and spiritual. For Origen'? the kingdom is above all things immanent and spiritual, and the eschatological aspect is secondary and in the sense that the spiritual apprehension of the truth must go on growing and increasing until the consummation is reached, when that which is perfect is come, and God shall be all in all. Tertullian,83 on the other hand, emphasizes the literal and eschatological sense of the kingdom of God. It is true that there is never a time when God does not reign; and he reigns in us: but the coming of the kingdom is the coming manifestation of the rule of God. It is future.

The souls of the martyrs beneath the altar cry out, "How long?"

It is for us a matter of earnest expectation. Tertullian's attitude is definitely "'other-worldly."' He would approve of the sentiment of the prayer in which we ask God "'shortly to accomplish the number of thine elect and to hasten thy kingdom."' Christians, he says, are illogical if with the words "Thy kingdom come"' on their lips they desire any delay of the final consummation, seeing that now we are in servitude, then we shall reign:

'"'optamus maturius regnare, et non diutius servire."'

In expounding the petition ""Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven," both writers admit that a simple, literal interpretation is on the surface impossible. But when they proceed to consider what the deeper, spiritual meaning of "earth" and

80 Ch. XVIII.

81 But in Adv. Prax., 23, ""Pater noster."

82 KXXV, I, 2.

83 Ch. V.

A.C.—-15

ORIGEN "heaven" may be, they part company. Tertullian holds that, in this sense, "earth"? and "'heaven'"' mean, respectively, "'flesh"' and "'spirit."" Origen allegorizes differently. He notes the difficulty arising out of the fact that there are spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ""Heaven'' may mean, then,

'"'Christ''; while ''earth"' may be interpreted "'the Church.''85

But he goes on to give another, and, it would appear, a preferable interpretation, namely, that setting aside all local and temporal ideas, he that doeth the will of God is "heaven," and persons of bad character are "earth.''86

In the next petition, even more marked differences of treatment appear. As we have noted, Origen spiritualizes altogether the "daily bread'': and in fact calls it a false opinion to hold that material bread is spoken of.8? Tertullian'® extols the Divine Wisdom which has so arranged the order of the prayer that after things heavenly should come earthly necessities. 'This, he points out, is in accordance with the command: "Seek ye first the kingdom, and then these things also shall be added unto you." Having said so much, however, Tertullian goes on to say that ''nevertheless we may rather understand 'Give us this day our daily bread' spiritually. For Christ is our Bread, and Christ is Life, and bread is life, and he said 'I am the Bread of life.'"'

But even on this plane of interpretation differences between the two writers manifest themselves. Tertullian at once speaks of the Eucharist and of the bread of which Christ said, '""This is my body.'' Origen, who has a long disquisition on the petition, never includes in it a reference to the Eucharist: to feed on Christ is to feed on his spiritual teachings.

The remaining two petitions of the Lord's Prayer do not provide much material for the purposes of comparison, either in respect of agreement or of disagreement. And so we may pass on tc underline an important difference between the two treatises that is to be found throughout them as a whole. Origen speaks almost entirely of private prayer, of individual prayer, although he notes the added value of prayers in common when

Christian disciples meet for worship;8? and he refers very seldom to the ordinances of the Church. Tertullian, on the other hand, at the outset of his treatise,9! places prayer in the context of the Church. Speaking of the opening words of the Lord's

Prayer, he says, "In the Father the Son is invoked; for 'I,' saith 84 Ch. IV.

85 XXVI, 4.

86 XXVI, 6.

87 XXVII, 1.

88 Ch. VI.

89 XXXI, 5.

90 See pp. 201 f.

91 Ch. II.

ON PRAYER

he, 'and the Father are one'"'

(notably different from Origen, who allows prayer in the proper sense of the term to be addressed to the Father only).9?2 Then, rather naively, he adds, ''Nor is even our mother the Church passed by, if, that is, in the Father and the Son is recognized the mother, from whom arises the name both of Father and Son." Accordingly in the course of the treatise, and especially when he comes to speak of the manner and posture and place of prayer, he has many references to Church ordinances and seasons and customs—the liturgical. setting of prayer. He speaks of Eucharist and the words ""This is my body,''3 of the kiss of peace, and about communicating on station days.94 Later on, he mentions the singing of the Psalms and the liturgical use of Alleluia.95 Speaking of the question of kneeling at prayer,°® he mentions that though some refrained from kneeling on Saturdays, the tradition he has received is that we do not kneel on Sundays or in the Spatio Pentecostes (? interval between Easter and Pentecost) "quae eadem exultationis sollemnitate dispungitur."' We are, however, to kneel on fasts and station days; and we ought to prostrate ourselves before God every day, or certainly when we pray the first thing in the morning. Per contra, when Origen?' is discussing this question, he speaks only of kneeling as a symbol of the man who 1s abject and submissive, and says nothing about kneeling in church.

Again, when we compare passages which cite the Scriptures as proving the power and efficacy of prayer, we discover a difference of outlook between the two writers. We have seen8 what Origen's treatment of "Give us this day our daily bread" is, and also how he contrasts the Old Testament with its record of material benefits vouchsafed through prayer with the purely spiritual objects, the "great and heavenly things," for which a Christian ought to pray. In fact, when he says9? that prayers similar to those which brought blessing to Old Testament saints are answered also today, he is not referring to the same kind of answer but to a spiritualized version of it. 'Tertullian's treatment of this matter is different. The concluding chapter! of his De

Oratione is an eloquent description of the power and efficacy of prayer. Like Origen he contrasts Old Testament with Christian prayers. ''Prayer in olden times, indeed, used to free from fires and from beasts and from famine"' (he is probably referring to

92 XV, I.

93 Ch. VI.

94 Chs. XVIII, XIX,

95 Chs. XXVIII, XXVIII.

96 Ch. XXITI.

97 XXXI, 3.

98 Pp. 218 ff., 263-266,

9 XIII, 3.

1 XXIX,

ORIGEN Dan., chs. 3 and 6, and I Kings, ch. 18, with James 5:17,18) "but how far more fully operative is Christian prayer! It does not station the angel of dew in mid fires,? nor stop the mouths of lions nor transfer to the hungry the rustics' meal;3 it has no grace given it to remove any sense of suffering; but it supplies with endurance those who are suffering, feeling, grieving." But this spiritual power, this ability to endure, be it noted, is given because of the presence of material afflictions or tortures, it is not a defence against the unseen powers of evil, as Origen would interpret. And again, according to Tertullian, "Is it any wonder if prayer knows how to extort the rains+ of heaven, which was once able to procure its fires?''?5 And this is natural rain, not "the rain of the soul,''® which according to Origen is the fulfilment of which the rain procured by the prayer of Elijah is the type.

Further, in conclusion, among the many benefits resulting from Christian prayer Tertullian reckons many which concern the body: prayer is able "'to recall the souls of the departed from the very path of death, to renew the weak, to heal the sick, to purge them that are possessed of devils, to open prison bars, to loose the bonds of the innocent."

Finally, it is impossible to avoid contrasting the general outlook of 'Tertullian upon Christianity and the particular subject of prayer with that of Origen. For Tertullian Christianity is a spiritual law and discipline with its prescribed duties. When we pray, we obey an order (praeceptum) of God, and when we call him Father we acknowledge his authority (fotestas).7 It is not indeed that Tertullian hankers after Judaism. That indeed has passed away: the gospel is the fulfiller' of the whole ancient system. But in its place have come the commandments of God in Christ, including particularly his command concerning prayer and its prescribed form; and our mother the Church

(deduced by Tertullian as a natural consequent of Father and Son) also prescribes services and forms and customs. The whole setting of the treatise is placed in the sphere of spiritual duty.

The life of the household the Church is conceived after the 2 Origen also refers to the "whistling dewy wind" (Dan. 3:49, 50, LXX), which tempered the fire for the Three Holy Children.

3 Bel and the Dragon 33.

4 A reference to the story (Afologeticus, V; Eusebius, H.E., V, 5) of the "Thundering Legion,"' when Christians in the army of Marcus Aurelius by means of prayer brought down a refreshing shower upon soldiers who were in danger of perishing by thirst.

5 II Kings 1:10 ff,

6 XIII, 5.

7 Ch, IT.

8 Ch, I.

9 Ch. II.

ON PRAYER

manner of domestic life in a Roman household, where the patria potestas was a living reality, setting a rule and standard for all its members. In that setting there is little room or desire to dwell upon matters which might weaken the sense of prescribed duty, such as differences in the text of Holy Scripture, criticism and interpretation of the Bible, possible objections, alternative renderings, speculations, and insoluble problems. With all of these, on the contrary, Origen is pre-occupied. It is part of his conception of Christianity, which is, to apprehend the truth of Christ and to feed upon his teachings. If Tertullian's watchword is "'duty,"' Origen's is "understanding," though not simply understanding that is intellectual but including also mystical apprehension and self-devotion which issues in a Christian way of life.

Thus in less than two hundred years profound differences of outlook had manifested themselves in Christianity. Carthage and Alexandria are in the same continent. About a thousand miles of coastline separate them one from the other. But Tertullian and Origen inhabit a different world spiritually and intellectually—a difference that may be expressed in various ways, as for example by saying that the one was Latin, the other

Greek, the one authoritative, the other speculative, the one exclusive, the other comprehensive, the one reactionary, the other liberal. "'Quid Athenis et Hierosolymis?''!° cries Tertullian.

"What have Athens and Jerusalem in common?" And he proceeds, ""Away with those who put forward a Stoic, a Platonic, a dialectic sort of Christianity! We have no need for curious speculation, once we have accepted Christ Jesus, nor for inquiry after receiving the gospel. Once we believe, we desire no further belief. For our belief is this, that there is nothing which we ought to believe besides."

It is better frankly to acknowledge that these two extreme types of Christianity emerged early in its history, and have continued ever since, than to attempt a formal reconciliation between them. If we will allow room for them both in a Catholic

Church, we shall serve the Church better than by seeking for them a common denominator. Perhaps it is necessary to say this today: for we live at a time when "pattern" has become a ""blessed"" word in theology. By using it, some lull themselves into the comfortable frame of mind which sees a uniformity in Christian faith and practice which does not in fact exist. ''Pattern'' is a tendentious, a misleading, but nevertheless for many,

10 De Praescriptione, 7.

ORIGEN a soporific word. It persuades those who use it into a totalitarian kind of belief that all happens "according to plan." In comparing these two treatises of Tertullian and Origen, the present writer makes no attempt to establish a common "pattern"' between them. He has pointed out a few similarities of thought and treatment. But the two works, as well as the two authors, differ toto caelo. They exhibit, not a "'pattern," but the "much variegated wisdom of God."'!!

Text, TRANSMISSION, MANUSCRIPTS, AND EDITIONS

That the treatise On Prayer has come down to us at all must be regarded as a fortunate circumstance. As we have seen,!? certain passages in the work were accounted heretical, and this in turn doubtless affected its transmission from early times, quite apart from the general destruction of Origen's manuscripts as a result of the controversies of which he was the storm centre. In fact, we are ultimately dependent for the Greek text upon a single MS. which has had a precarious history and might well have never survived its chequered fortunes. And there is no Latin translation of the De Oratione as there is of so many of Origen's other works. There are indeed few references to the treatise in the extant literature of the early Church. The Apologia pro Origene, written conjointly by Pamphilus and Eusebius c. 308, ""because of the fault-finders,''!3 mentions it as extant. It is true that we possess this Apology only in the Latin translation of Rufinus (and that, too, of the first book only), but there is no reason, but rather the contrary, why Rufinus should have included a reference to the book if he did not find it in the original. 'This translation was made in 398. The reference is as follows:!4 "'Denique in tam multis et tam diversis eius libris nusquam omnino invenitur ab eo liber proprie de anima conscriptus, sicut habet vel de Martyrio, vel de Oratione, vel de

Resurrectione."' 15 There is no reference to the De Oratione in the list of Origen's works to be found in Jerome, Ep., XX XIII, ad

Paulam.16 But Jerome is here chiefly concerned to enumerate Origen's labours in Biblical exegesis: "'qui tanto in sanctarum scriptarum commentariis sudore laboravit, ut iuste adamantis nomen acceperit."" Therefore his omission to mention the treatise is not conclusive of his ignorance of its existence; in fact, he does not mention the Contra Celsum either. Nor does it follow that 11 Eph. 3:10.

12 See pp. 187 ff.

13 Eusebius, H.E., VI, 33:4.

14 Ch, 8.

15 Routh, Religuiae Sacrae, IV, 379.

16 C.V., LIV, 253 ff.

ON PRAYER

Gregory and Basil did not know the De Oratione because they did not include a passage from it in the Philocalia. This work mainly consists of passages which exemplify Origen's power of resolving difficult questions arising out of the Holy Scriptures. 17

The synodical letter of Theophilus of Alexandria, a bitter opponent of Origen, '"'ad Palestinos et ad Cyprios episcopos missa'"' (c. 400) and translated by Jerome,!8 mentions the De

Oratione expressly when it includes among the errors of Origen what he wrote about praying to the Father only: "'cum legeretur

. In alio libro, qui 'de oratione' scribitur: non debemus orare filium, sed solum patrem, nec patrem cum filio, obturavimus aures nostras et tam Origenem quam discipulos eius consona voce damnavimus, ne et modicum fermentum totam massam corrumperet."

Again, in another, a paschal, letter, also translated by Jerome,!9 Theophilus attacks at greater length the same point in Origen's teaching. He places Origen on a level, in this respect, with Pharaoh, who said, "I know not the Lord.''2° "'Nec est aliud dicere 'nescio Dominum' quam hoc, quod dicit Origenes, 'non est orandus filius.'"? Inasmuch as Christ is the Son of God it follows as a right and proper consequence that he is to be invoked, and prayer is to be made to him, as indeed we are taught in the Scriptures to do (Acts 7:60;

Phil. 2:10). The first of these quotations is an unhappy one from the point of view of 'Theophilus's criticism, as Origen expressly quotes these words of Stephen (''Lord, lay not this sin to their charge') as an example of intercession (which he distinguishes from prayer in the full sense of the term) being rightly made to the Son.?! Origen, says Theophilus, does not believe in the Deity of the Son: "itaque nec deum credit Origenes filium dei, quem non putat adorandum." The name of divinity that he gives him is only an empty name. He thinks that he understands the meaning of the Scriptures, but he does not hear what

Moses says against him. '""Whosoever curseth God shall bear his sin; he that nameth the name of the Lord shall surely die; the whole congregation shall stone him.''22

Acquaintance with the De Oratione has been claimed for Ambrose, in virtue of certain passages in the De Sacramentis?3 and De Fide;24 see note on XXVII, g. There are marked differences, however, between Ambrose and Origen.

17 ypadicay Cntnpatwv Kal emAvcewvr.

18 Jerome, Ep., XCII (C.V., LV, 148, 149).

19 Ibid. (Ep., XCVI), 172 ff.

20 Ex. 5:2.

21 See p. 269.

22 Lev. 24:15, 16.

23'V, 24, VI, 22.

24 III, 127.

ORIGEN The writings and pronouncements of the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century afford evidence of his knowledge of the De

Oratione, in so far as he finds in it the idea that the resurrection body is spherical. In his Epistle to Mennas, Patriarch of Constantinople, he says:25 '"'For he [sc. Origen] says that in the resurrection men's bodies are raised spherical. O! the folly and stupidity of this crazy fellow, this expounder of Greek opinions!

Darkened in his understanding, and eager to mix up myths with the Christian faith, he aimed at casting insult upon the very hope and salvation of Christians, that is, the resurrection promised to us, not even reverencing the resurrection of the Lord .

. For if, as Origen madly supposes, the body of the Lord was spherical, how was he able to show the piercings of his hands and feet, or the wound in his side? Or how could he eat, or be recognized at all by his disciples? And how also could the bodies of the saints, which were raised after the Lord's resurrection and seen in the holy city, have been known by others, if they were really in a form different from that which they had in life?"

The Epistle to Mennas concludes with a series of ten anathemas against Origen's teachings, of which the following is the fifth:2¢

"If anyone says or holds that at the resurrection men's bodies are raised spherical, and does not acknowledge that we are raised upright, let him be anathema." A similar condemnation is to be found in the tenth of the Fifteen Anathemas against Origen, discovered by Peter Lambeck, the Librarian of Vienna, towards the end of the seventeenth century, which some hold to have been adopted by the Fifth General Council, but others, more probably, assign to a 'Home Synod," that is, a Synod held in 543 at Constantinople of the bishops of the locality.27

The translation of this Anathema runs as follows: "If anyone shall say that after the resurrection the body of the Lord was ethereal and spherical in form, and that such shall be the bodies of all after the resurrection; and that after the Lord himself shall have rejected his true body and after the others who rise shall have rejected theirs, the nature of their bodies shall be annihilated: let him be anathema."

On the other hand, Photius?' refers to an anonymous defender of Origen. ""The counts on which he asserts that he [sc.

Origen] was falsely accused are fifteen in number, which he declares to be mere slanders. ..

. He is charged with teaching

25 P.G., LXXXVI (1), 973.

26 Ibid., 989.

27 Hefele, IV, 221 ff.; N.P.NF., XIV, 316 ff.

28 Library, I, 117, ed. J. H. Freese, 206.

ON PRAYER

that prayer should not be offered to the Son, and that he is not absolutely good."' It is probable that this is a reference to the teaching of the De Oratione, because although Origen elsewhere in his writings?9 says that prayer should be addressed to the Father it is only in the present treatise that he enjoins prayer— in the proper sense of the term—to the Father alone, that is to say, In so many words.

It is not surprising, therefore, that under this barrage of criticism, although it was directed against at the most two points in the treatise, its circulation came almost to an end. In fact it is preserved for us in a single MS., which if it had been lost—and it might well have been—no trace or fragment or copy of the work would now remain. This MS. is now in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B.8.10: formerly styled ''Holmiensis''),3° known under the symbol T, written on paper, of the fourteenth or fifteenth century. Apart from eight inconsiderable lacunae near the beginning, it contains the whole of the treatise. Bound together with it is another work of Origen, his Commentary on Matthew, written in another, older hand.

The scribe of 'T appears to have been a conscientious person, for where the text he was copying was missing or illegible, he leaves in every case just so much empty space as seems necessary to him, so that he could eventually later on supply the missing words from another codex. Lacunae falling at regular intervals are found at the beginning of the MS., pointing to the fact that in the archetype the first or last lines of a page were partly or wholly destroyed, or rendered illegible, by some cause, probably damp. It cannot now be determined to what century this archetype belonged; but Koetschau}! argues that not many intermediaries lay between it and T, since the text has been handed down in comparatively good order.

T has had an interesting, but precarious, history. When the cathedral library of Worms was plundered by soldiers, it was purchased from them for a small sum by a person named

Rumfius, physician to Elizabeth, Queen of the Bohemians. He brought it from Germany to The Hague, where it passed from his possession to that of the famous scholar Isaac Voss, who in turn brought it to Sweden, where it was lodged along with other manuscripts in the library at Stockholm. There, some

29 See pp. 346 ff.

30 So-called, because it was once lodged in the Library of Holmia (Stockholm).

31 T, lxxxvii.

ORIGEN twenty years after Voss had acquired it, another scholar, Peter Daniel Huet, came across it in the Library and made a copy of it in the year 1652. Subsequently Voss allowed the use of the MS. to Herbert Thorndike (1598-1672), fellow of Trinity

College, who was contemplating an edition of the complete works of Origen.32 It remained in Thorndike's possession.

Later on he bequeathed it to the Library of his College.

The transcript made by Huet is known as Cod. Parisin.

Suppl. Gr. Nr. 534.

The concluding part of the treatise On Prayer (from XXXI, 1 to XX-XIII, 3) has been separately handed down in another MS.

(Cod. Parisin, Gr. Nr. 1788, Colbert 3607, cited as "'Col''), written, according to a subscription written in Greek, by a monk named Gennadius, in the year 1440. A note, written in a hand of the fifteenth century, gives the following facts concerning the history and ownership of the codex (which is of a miscellaneous character, containing several works) of which this fragment forms part, namely, that it came originally from Constantinople, having been purchased, after the capture of that city, by a certain man named Luke Zonaras, who was from 'the wholly wretched and miserable island of Lesbos."' It remained in his possession until the taking of this island (i.e., in the year 1462), when it passed into the hands of one Sophianus of Phocia,?3 and then finally into those of Sophianus the writer of the note. The first editor to use this fragment was Delarue

(see below), who believed that it was a valuable help in the restoration of that part of the text of the treatise which it contains. But Koetschau34 has shown that the most of the variants of Col from T are scribal errors and omissions, due to negligence or wilful alteration, and that Col has never more to offer, but in numerous passages less, than T, and that in fact in T we see the text from which Col is derived. This view is confirmed by the fact that T and Col have certain mis-readings in common.

"Further, the scribe of Col behaves throughout in so inconsistent and arbitrary a manner, that one need not, in order to expose his many faults, interpose an intermediary between T and Col." Since, then, T and Col are not independent, and 32 'T. A. Lacey in his Herbert Thorndike, pp. 25 ff. mentions many Greek and Latin Fathers whom Thorndike cites, but Origen is not among them. But B. F. Westcott (D.C.B., IV, 141) notes that Thorndike had indeed contemplated an edition of Origen's works, but had abandoned the project. because inter alia he had learned of Huet's intention to carry out a similar task, 33 In Asia Minor.

34 T, Ixxxv.

ON PRAYER

since Col, as we have seen, originally came from Constantinople, it is not unlikely that T also had its habitat there, and hence also in all likelihood its place of origin. Perhaps the passage I quoted earlier35 in this section from Photius may be significant in this connection. If in Constantinople of the ninth century there were known to be apologists of Origen's treatise, it is likely enough that a MS. containing it would escape the harsher fate that fell upon its fellows in other parts of the world.

The following are the editions of this treatise that have been published up till now.

1. Editio Princeps. Printed and published in Oxford in the year 1682. The editor is anonymous. In his Praefatio he says that he has given a transcript (apographum) of that manuscript

"which is now preserved at Cambridge in the Library of the College of the holy Trinity," of whose existence Voss had made him aware. This codex, he remarks, is "'non admodum feliciter descriptus,"' it contains considerable lacunae, and is so full of abbreviations that it required '"'an interpreter rather than a reader' to transcribe it. A Latin translation is added, in which the editor acknowledges the help he had received from Gale,

3° who not merely translated the Greek text supplied him by the editor, but also reviewed suspected passages by reference to T: so that the Latin translation, as corrected by Gale, is often a substantial improvement.

2. Next in order of time is the edition of the Treatise published at Basle by J. R. Wetstein, the elder, in 1694. The improvement in this edition over its predecessor is mainly due to the fact that Gale's recension of Codex T is utilized. The exemplar of the Oxford edition used by Wetstein is now in the Library of Gottingen University. It contains in the margin

Gale's collation of each passage. But it will be seen from what follows that much further work had yet to be done on the text.

Indeed the "Master of a College in Cambridge," referred to in the following paragraph, scathingly speaks of "'the Basil

Edition" as "being a mere repetition of the Oxford, bating a few alterations of little moment, some for the better, some for the worse."

3. First in order of merit among early editions is that of William Reading (London, 1728). This edition is dedicated to Baron Roger Meredith, who is described as ornatissimus vir. Its special value lies in the fact that Reading made use of a fresh collation of T and Notes by an anonymous scholar—in fact, a

33P.° 232:

36 I.e., Thomas Gale, Dean of York (c. 1635-1702).

ORIGEN new edition of the book—which were sent to Reading by "the Master of a College in Cambridge,'' whom Reading describes in his Preface as vir singularis eruditionis, animique in me benevolentissimi, with permission to publish them, if he thought fit, without however disclosing the name of the donor. The reason for all this secrecy is not apparent. In any case, the work of the anonymous scholar, included in this edition, was the most valuable contribution to the criticism of the De Oratione that had so far been made. Not only did he collate Codex T more systematically and thoroughly than either of his two predecessors, but by his notes, which are the result of genuine scholarship and of knowledge in particular of the writings of Origen, he contributed, even more than Richard Bentley did, to the purifying and emendation of the text.

4. Charles Delarue in his edition of Origen's Works (Vol. I, pp. 196-272, Paris, 1733) reproduced the text of Wetstein's edition, but also utilized an—admittedly insufficient—collation of Codex T', which "John Walker, an English presbyter," had made for him. He also examined the fragment contained in Codex Paris. no. 1788 ("'col''). He added a Latin translation, made by Claudius Fleury for Huet. But a more momentous addition appeared in the footnotes, which give the ingenious, though often audacious, conjectural emendations of Richard

Bentley.

5. Charles Henry Edward Lommatzch, who published a recension of the work of Delarue in twenty-five volumes, gives the text of the De Oratione in Vol. XVIII, pp. 82-297 (Berlin,

1844). This differs only in a few places in the text from that of Delarue; and whereas Delarue had printed the critical notes of the anonymous scholar at the end of his first volume, Lommatzch adds these to each respective passage of the text.

6. 'The edition used in preparing this translation is that of Paul Koetschau (Leipzig, 1899) in the Berlin corpus of the Fathers entitled Die griechischen christlichen Schriftsteller der ersten dret Fahrhunderte. The Introduction to 'Die Schrift von Gebet'' is in Vol. I of Origen's Works, pp. Ixxv-xcii, the text in Vol. II, pp. 297-403. This edition, which is a worthy contribution to modern scholarship and to the series in which it is included, is based on a new collation of Codex T made by C. J. Bellairs

Gaskoin. It is indispensable to a critical study of the treatise.

Koetschau has been careful to give as accurately as possible the number of letters or lines to be estimated for each of the lacunae in T. His apparatus criticus gives full information concerning not

ON PRAYER

only variants but also emendations of the Anonymous, Bentley, and others. He says, however, that "'from the text in T, I have departed only seldom and for compelling reasons.''37 From this point of view it is not surprising that Koetschau often, and to the mind of the present writer too frequently, dismisses proposed emendations with the terse formula "'ohne Grund."' This, however, does not seriously impair the value of Koetschau's text, of which every serious student of the De Oratione must be conscious.

I must personally acknowledge my own indebtedness to his edition, not only throughout this book, but especially in writing this section of the Introduction and the section which deals with the occasion of the treatise. Koetschau stands out among those who in the last three hundred years have laboured to make this work of Origen accessible in scholarly form. It appears here in an English translation, which, it is hoped, will not be found entirely inadequate. But the translator must conclude, as Origen himself does, by acknowledging the difhiculty of the task as a ground for asking the indulgence of the reader.

37 T, xc.

On Prayer THE TEXT Introduction Chapters I and II I, 1. Inasmuch as the greatest themes surpass man's understanding, and transcend exceedingly our perishable nature, it is impossible for the reason of the race of mortals to grasp them; nevertheless this becomes possible by the will of God, in the abundant and immeasurable grace of God that is poured forth by him upon men, through Jesus Christ, who ministers unto us his unsurpassable grace, and through his fellow-worker the Spirit. Certainly, it is impossible for human nature to acquire that wisdom by which "all things" have been "'established''!

(for, according to David, God ''made all things in wisdom''?).

What is impossible, however, becomes possible through our Lord Jesus Christ, who "'was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.'3 '"'For what man shall know the counsel of God? Or who shall conceive what the Lord willeth?"' Because "the thoughts of mortals are timorous, and our devices are prone to fail. For a corruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the earthy frame lieth heavy on a mind that is full of cares. And hardly do we divine the things that are on earth. But the things that are in the heavens, who ever yet traced out?'4 Nevertheless, this impossibility becomes possible by "'the exceeding grace of God.''5 For he who "was caught up" into "the third heaven''® "traced out''7 perchance the things in the three heavens, because he had "heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.''§

But who can say that it is possible for "the mind of the Lord"

1 Cf. Heb. 3:4.

2 Ps. 104:24.

3 I Cor. 1:30.

4 Wisdom of Solomon 9:13-16.

5 II Cor. 9:14.

6 II Cor. 12:2.

7 Wisdom of Solomon 9:16.

8 II Cor. 12:4.

ON PRAYER

to be "known"? by man? Nevertheless, even this God bestows through Christ,!° [who says, "Ye are my friends, if you do the things which I command you. No longer do I call you servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard from my

Father I have made known unto you.''!! They who hear the gospel rejoice] when it teaches them the will of their Lord, no longer willing to be Lord, but changing to be a friend for those to whom he was formerly Lord. Nevertheless, "'since none among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, which is in him, even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God.''!2 But if "none knoweth the things of God, save the Spirit of God," it is impossible for man to "'know the things of God.'' Consider also, however, how it becomes possible. "But we," he says, "'received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth."'!3

II, 1. Probably, however, most godly and laborious Ambrose, and most modest and brave Tatiana (for whom, it can be said, "'it'' has "'ceased to be after the manner of women," as "'it"' had "'ceased to be with Sarah''!4), you are somewhat at a loss why, when the subject before us is prayer, we should begin by speaking of the things which though impossible for men yet become possible by the grace of God. One of these impossible things, having regard to our weakness, is, I believe, to give a clear, exact and appropriate account of the whole matter of prayer, how we ought to pray, what things we ought to say to God in prayer, and what times are more suitable than others for prayer!5 ... [we know that Paul] who because of "'the exceeding greatness of the revelations" took care "lest any man should account of" him "'above that which he seeth"' him "'to be, or heareth from''!® him, confessed that he did "'not know" how "to pray as' he "'ought''!7; for as concerning what ought

9 Cf. Rom. 11:34; I Cor. 2:16 (Isa. 40:13).

10 A lacuna of three and a half lines occurs here in the MS. T, which Koetschau conjecturally fills up as above.

11 John 15:14, 15.

12 I Cor. 2:11.

15D Cor 212. 13.

14 Gen. 18:11.

15 A lacuna of four and one-fifth lines (about 300 letters) occurs here in the MS. Doubtless at this point Origen referred to the need for divine grace to help him in his task, as we find him doing lower down in this chapter

(sect. 6).

161 T Cori2:7, 6:

17 Rom. 8:26,

ORIGEN to be prayed for, he says, "we know not as we ought." So it is necessary not only to pray, but also to pray "as we ought," and to pray for what we ought. For it is not enough that we should be able to pray for what we ought, unless in addition we possess the "'as we ought."? And what does the "as we ought"' profit us, if we do not know how to pray for what we ought?

2. Now, of these two things the one, that is to say, "what we ought,"' is concerned with the words of prayer; the other, "as we ought,"' with the condition of him who is praying. Examples of ''what we ought" are: "'Ask for the great things, and the little things shall be added unto you''!8; and "'Ask for the heavenly things and the earthly things!9 shall be added unto you''?°; and "Pray for them that despitefully use you''?!; and "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he send forth labourers into his harvest''??; and "'Pray that ye enter not into temptation"'23; and "'Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a sabbath''24 and "And in praying use not vain repetitions''25; and any other sayings like these. An example of "as we ought"' is: "I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and disputing. In like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety, not with braided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly raiment; but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works.''26 Instruction on "'as we ought"' is also to be found in the passage: "If therefore thou art offering thy gift at the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."27 For what greater gift can a reasonable creature?' present to God than a sweet-savoured28* word of prayer, offered by one whose conscience is void of the foul savour that comes from sin? Further instruction on "as we ought"' is: '""Defraud ye not one the other, except it be by consent for a season, that ye may give yourselves unto prayer, and may be together again, that Satan rejoice not over you2° because of your incontinency."'3° From this it follows

18 See note.

19 Cf. John 3:12.

20 Cf. Matt. 6:33; Luke 12:31.

21 Luke 6:28.

22 Matt. 9:38; Luke to:2.

23 Luke 22:40 (Matt. 26:41; Mark 14:38).

24 Matt. 24:20 (Mark 13:18).

25 Matt. 6:7.

26 I Tim. 2:8-10.

27 Matt. 5:23, 24.

28 Cf. Rom. 12:1.

28a Of, Eph. 5:2; Phil. 4:18.

29 'The usual reading is 'tempt you not": see note.

30 J Cor, 7:5.

ON PRAYER

that "'as we ought"' is hindered unless in the performance of the ineffable mysteries of marriage due regard is paid to gravity, infrequency and absence of passion: for the ''consent'' here mentioned does away with the disorder of passion, removes

"incontinency,' and hinders the joy that Satan takes in another's ill. In addition to these passages, instruction on ''as we ought" is to be found in the saying: "If we stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against anyone.''3! Also the passage in Paul, "Every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered, dishonoureth his head. But every woman praying or prophesying with her head unveiled dishonoureth her head,"'32 is indicative of "'as we ought."

3. Paul knew all these passages, and could quote a great many more besides from the Law and the Prophets and from their fulfilment,33 the Gospel, and give a varied exposition of each of them; nevertheless it is out of a true as well as a modest disposition that he says (for in spite of all this knowledge he saw how far off he was from knowing what we ought to pray for "as we ought'): "As touching what we ought to pray for, we know not as we ought.''34 And, in addition to this saying, he also indicates the means whereby what is lacking is supplied for the man who though ignorant renders himself worthy to have what is lacking in himself supplied: for he says, ""The Spirit himself maketh intercession" to God "with groanings which cannot be uttered; and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.''35 Now "the Spirit"? who "'cries"' in "'the hearts'' of the blessed ones, "Abba, Father,''3 knowing full well the groanings "'in this tabernacle,''37 that they are capable of weighing down those who have fallen or transgressed,

'"'maketh intercession"' to God "with groanings which cannot be uttered," 38 and out of his great kindness and sympathy receives our groanings. And when, in accordance with the wisdom that is in him, he sees ''our soul humbled to the dust''39 and confined in "the body ofhumiliation,"'4° '"'he maketh intercession" to God, using no ordinary "'groanings,"' but certain "which cannot be uttered," which appertain to those "'unspeakable words, which it is not' possible "for a man to utter.''4! In very truth, this

Spirit, not content simply to intercede with God, intensifies the 31 Mark 11:25: see note.

32 I Cor. 11:4, 5.

33 Cf. Matt. 5:17.

34 Rom. 8:26.

35 Rom. 8:26, 27.

36 Gal. 4:6.

37 IJ Cor. 5:4.

38 Rom. 8:26.

39 Ps, 44:25.

40 Phil. 3:21. ye 4bTT Cori12:4.

A.Cc.—16

ORIGEN intercession and "'intercedes exceedingly."

42 I imagine that he does this for those who are conquering exceedingly, such as Paul was when he says, "'Nay, in all these things we conquer exceedingly.''43 Probably, he merely "'intercedes"' for those who, on the one hand, are not so great as "to conquer exceedingly," and yet, on the other, are not such as to be conquered, but rather are conquering.

4. Related to the text "we know not what' we ought "to pray for as we ought; but the Spirit intercedes exceedingly" to God '"'with groanings which cannot be uttered,''44 is the text:

"T will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also."'45 For neither can our understanding pray, unless previously the Spirit prays, hearkening'® as it were to it, nor likewise can it sing and hymn the Father in Christ with rhythm, melody, measure and harmony, unless the Spirit, who "searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God,''47 first praise and hymn him, whose "'deep things" he has "searched," and, so far as he is able,4+8 apprehended.

"One of the disciples' of Jesus (being conscious in himself, as I suppose, of human weakness in its ignorance concerning how one ought to pray, and recognizing this especially when he heard the wise and great words uttered by the Saviour in prayer to his Father), "'when"' the Lord "'ceased'' praying, said: "Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples."' The following is the full context of the saying: "'And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, even as John also taught his disciples''49 to pray.5° . . . Is it then that a man, brought up in the instruction of the Law and in hearing the words of the Prophets, and a constant frequenter of the synagogues, did not know how to pray at all, until he saw the Lord praying "in a certain place''? It would be absurd to assert this. Undoubtedly he was accustomed to pray in the Jewish fashion; but he saw that he needed greater knowledge in the matter of prayer. Moreover, what did '"'John teach his disciples" concerning prayer, as they came "unto him" to be "'baptized"'

42 Rom. 8:26: Origen here makes the point that Paul does not simply say evrvyxdve. (as in Vv. 27), but dweperrvyydver. The English Bible versions do not attempt to reproduce this distinction.

43 Rom. 8:37.

44 Rom. 8:26.

45 I Cor. 14:15.

46 See note.

47 I Cor. 2:10.

48 See note.

49 Luke 11:1.

50 A lacuna of two and a half lines occurs here in the MS., probably containing a citation of Matt. 3:5, 6.

ON PRAYER

from "'Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and the region round about,''52 unless it was that, being "much more than a prophet,''5? he saw certain things concerning prayer, which, I dare say, he delivered secretly, not to all those who were being baptized, but to those who were under instruction as disciples for baptism?

5. Such prayers, being truly spiritual (for the Spirit prays in the hearts of the saints), have been recorded, and they are filled with unutterable and marvellous teachings. An example, in the First Book of the Kingdoms, is the prayer of Hannah,53 which is given in part (for the whole prayer, "when she continued praying before the Lord, speaking in her heart," has not been written down).54 In the Psalms, the sixteenth Psalm is entitled,

""A Prayer of David," and the eighty-ninth, ""A Prayer of Moses, the man of God," and the one hundred and first, "'A Prayer of the poor man, when he is uncared for, and pours forth his petition before the Lord.''55 Such prayers, since they were truly prayers which came into being and were spoken by the Spirit, are filled with the teachings of the wisdom of God; so that one may say of the things that they set forth: ""Who is wise, and he shall understand these" prayers? '"'and prudent, and he shall know" them?5¢ 6. Since, therefore, to treat of prayer is so weighty a task that it requires the illumination of the Father for this very thing, and the teaching of his first begotten Word, and the operation of the Spirit that we may understand and speak worthily of so weighty a matter, I pray as a man (for I do not hold that I am able of my own self to treat of prayer) before I begin to speak on the subject of prayer, that the Holy Spirit may be vouchsafed to me, so that a very full and spiritual word may be bestowed upon me, and the prayers recorded in the Gospels made plain. Let us now then begin the subject of prayer.

Discussion on Prayer in General Cuapters III ro XVII The words ''Euche'' and ''Proseuche'' (Chapters III and IV)

III, 1. The word "'prayer'' (euche) occurs for the first time, so far as my observation goes, when ''Jacob,"' flying from the 51 Matt. 3:5, 6.

52 Matt. 11:9.

53 J Sam. 1:11-13.

54 So Koetschau emends the text of T.

55 These Psalms are numbered in the English Bible 17, 90, and 102, respectively.

56 Hos. 14:9.

24.4.

ORIGEN wrath of his "brother Esau, departed into Mesopotamia" in accordance with the counsel of Isaac and Rebecca.57 The passage runs as follows: "And Jacob prayed a prayer, saying, if God the Lord will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, and will bring me back again in safety to my father's house, then shall the Lord be unto me for God. And this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be unto me God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me, I will surely give the tenth unto

Cheer At

2. Here we should note that the word "'prayer'' (euche), which often has a different meaning from proseuche, is used of a person who promises in prayer to do this or that, if so be that he obtains these things from God. But the term is also employed in its customary usage: as, for example, we find it so used after the plague of frogs, the second in order of the ten...

. "Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Pray the Lord for me, and let him take away the frogs from me and my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord.''®1

And if anyone finds it hard to believe, because the expression ""pray'' is Pharaoh's, that it has the usual sense, as derived from "prayer," in addition to the sense previously mentioned, he should note the passage which follows: "'And Moses said unto

Pharaoh, Appoint unto me when I shall pray for thee and for thy servants and for thy people, that the frogs be destroyed from thee and from thy people and out of thy houses, and remain in the river only."'

3. Observe that in the case of "'the lice," the third plague, neither does Pharaoh request a prayer to be made, nor does

Moses pray.®? But in the case of "'the swarm of flies," 4 the fourth, he says, "'Pray therefore for me to the Lord''; on which occasion "'Moses said, I will go out from thee and I will pray unto

God, and the swarm of flies will depart from Pharaoh and his servants and his people, tomorrow."'65 And a little further down,

57 Cf. Gen. 27:41-45.

58 Gen. 28:20-22.

59 A lacuna of two lines occurs here in T, which perhaps contained another example from the Scriptures of "'prayer."'

60 A lacuna of two lines occurs here in T, which Koetschau supplies after this manner: '"'when Pharaoh commanded Moses and Aaron to pray to the Lord for him, that he should take away from him and his people the frogs which covered everything. The passage is as follows:"

61 Ex. 8:8, 62 Ex. 8:9.

63 Ex. 8:16-19.

64 Ex. 8:20-32.

65 Ex. 8:25, 28 (LXX).

ON PRAYER

"And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and prayed unto God.'' 66

And again, while at the fifth and sixth plagues'? neither did Pharaoh request a prayer to be made nor did Moses pray, at the seventh "Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said unto them, I have sinned this time: the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. Pray therefore unto the Lord, and let there be an end to voices of God and hail and fire.''6' And a little lower down, "'Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands unto the Lord: and the voices ended.' Why it is not said, '""And he prayed," as on the former occasions, but "'he spread abroad his hands unto the Lord,'' must be considered more suitably at another time. Also, at the eighth plague Pharaoh says, "'And pray unto the Lord your God, and let him take away from me this death. And Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed unto God.''7° 4. We have said that the word euche is often used not in the accustomed manner, as for example with reference to Jacob.7!

Also, in Leviticus, ""The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them,

Whosoever shall vow a vow, as being an estimation of his soul to the Lord, the estimation of the male, from twenty years old to sixty years old, even his estimation shall be fifty shekels of silver by holy weight.''?72 And in Numbers, 'And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and thou shalt say unto them, When either man or woman shall vow solemnly73 a vow to make a separation for himself to the Lord, he shall be separated from wine and strong drink,''74 and so forth, with reference to him who is called a Nazirite.

Then, a little lower down, "'And he shall sanctify his head on that day in which he was sanctified to the Lord for the days

_ of his vow."'75 And again, a little lower down, ""This is the law of him who hath vowed, in whatsoever day he shall fulfil the days of his vow."'76 And again, a little lower down, "'And after that he who hath vowed shall drink wine. This is the law of him who hath vowed, whosoever shall vow to the Lord his gift as concerning his vow, apart from whatsoever his hand shall find

66 Ex. 8:30.

67 Ex. g:1-12.

68 Ex. 9:27, 28.

69 Ex. 9:33.

70 Ex, 10:17, 18.

71 See III, 2, above: in this section euche and the corresponding verb are translated "'vow."

72 Lev. 27:1-3.

73 Lit. "greatly."

74 Num. 6:1-3.

75 Num. 6:11, 12 (LXX).

76 Num, 6:13.

ORIGEN according to the power of his vow, which he shall vow according to the law of separation."77 And at the end of Numbers, "And Moses spake unto the heads of the tribes of Israel, saying, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. When a man voweth a vow unto the Lord, or sweareth an oath by a bond, or shall make a bond concerning his soul, he shall not cause his word to become void; he shall do according to all that proceedeth out of his mouth. And if a woman voweth a vow unto the Lord, or bindeth herself by a bond, being in her father's house, in her youth; and if her father heareth her vows, and her bonds wherewith she hath bound her soul, and if her father holdeth his peace, all her vows shall stand, and every bond wherewith she hath bound her soul shall remain with her.''78

And subsequently he lays down certain laws concerning such a woman. The same meaning is to be found in Proverbs: ..

. ["'It is a snare] to a man rashly to sanctify anything of his own; for after he hath vowed cometh repentance''79; and in Ecclesiastes:

"Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay''®°; and in the Acts of the Apostles:

"There are with us four men which are under a vow of their own act."'8!

IV, 1. It has seemed to me not unreasonable to distinguish first between the two meanings of the word euche in the Scriptures, and likewise also of the word proseuche. For indeed this word, in addition to its common and customary, frequently found, usage, also occurs in the unusual sense to us of euche,8? in what is said concerning Hannah in the First Book of the Kingdoms: "And Eli the priest sat upon a seat by the door posts of the temple of the Lord. And she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed [ proseuxato| unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow [euche|, and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, and wilt give unto thine handmaid the seed of a man, then I will give him

77 Num. 6:20, 21.

78 Num. 30:1—4.

79 Prov. 20:25. Before this quotation there is a lacuna of one and threefifths lines in T, which Koetschau conjecturally fills with two other quotations from Proverbs, as follows: "'A sacrifice of a peace offering is with me; this day do I pay my vows" (7:14); and ''A foolish son is the shame of his father; unholy are the vows of a hired mistress" (19:13

(LXX)); and "It is a snare," etc:

80 Eccl. 5:5.

81 Acts 21:23: see note for text.

82 The text of Koetschau is followed here.

ON PRAYER

24.7 unto the Lord as a gift all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head.''83

2. Here it would not be unconvincing to note the phrases "prayed unto the Lord" and '"'vowed a vow' and say that, if she did the two things, that is to say, '"'prayed unto the Lord, and vowed a vow," perhaps the word "prayed,"' on the one hand, occurs in the sense we usually give to the noun euche while, on the other hand, "'she vowed a vow" has the meaning of the word as it occurs in Leviticus and Numbers.

84 For "'I will give him unto the Lord as a gift all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head"' is not a proseuche in the proper sense of the term, but rather that "'vow'' (euche) such as Jephtha vowed in these words: "And Jephtha vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver the children of Ammon into mine hand, then it shall be that whosoever cometh forth of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from the children of Ammon, even he shall be the Lord's, and I will offer him up for a burnt offering.'' 85

Objections to Prayer (Chapter V) V, 1. Ifit is necessary, then after this, to set forth, as you have bidden us, the plausible arguments first of those who think that nothing is effected by prayers, and therefore affirm that it is superfluous to pray, we shall not refuse to do this also according to our ability, employing the term "prayer" now in its simpler and more ordinary sense.8° .

. This opinion is so disreputable and lacking in distinguished supporters, that practically no one can be found among those who admit Providence and place God over the universe who rejects prayer. It is the tenet either of those who are downright atheists and deny the existence of God, or else of those who go as far as to accept the name of God but do away with his Providence. I would go further and say that the power that works in opposition,' desiring to attach the most iniquitous opinions to the name of Christ and to the teaching of the Son of God, has even been

83 J Sam. 1:9-11.

84 Cf. Lev. 27:2; Num. 6:2, 4, 6, 7, 9, 12, 13, 18, 19, 21 (LXX); 30:3—15.

85 Judg. 11:31.

86 A lacuna of two lines in T follows, which Koetschau fills up conjecturally thus: "For there are some who do not even accept prayer in this sense, but rather make mock of those who pray, and desire to do away completely with any kind of prayer whatsoever."

87 Cf. II Thess. 2:4, 9.

ORIGEN able to persuade some that they ought not to pray. The champions of this opinion are those who completely reject objects of sense, and use neither Baptism nor Eucharist, and slanderously affirm that when the Scriptures speak of "'praying"' they do not mean this, but teach something with quite a different meaning.

2. The following are the arguments, conceivably, of those who set at naught prayers (that is to say, of those who place

God over the universe and say that there is a Providence; for there is no question now of examining the statements of those who reject God or Providence altogether): "God" knows "all things before they be,"

88 and nothing which happens is known to him for the first time when it happens, as ifit were not known before this. What need is there, then, to offer up a prayer to him who before it was prayed knows what we lack? "For the heavenly Father knoweth what things'? we "have need of before" we "'ask him.''89 It is reasonable that he who is the Father and Creator of the universe, who "'loveth all things that are, and abhorreth none of the things which" he "hath made," 9 should dispense what is for the well-being of each one without being prayed to; just as a father does, who protects his little ones and does not wait upon their requests, either because they are unable to ask at all, or because through ignorance they often wish to receive things that are clean contrary to their profit and advantage. And we human beings are much further off from God than mere children are from the mind of their parents.

3. Nowitis probable that the future is not only known beforehand to God but also predetermined, and that nothing comes to pass which has not been predetermined by him. For example, if one were to pray that the sun should rise, he would be regarded as a foolish fellow, for requesting that something should happen through his prayer which would happen in any case without his prayer. So also a man would be senseless to imagine that his prayer caused things to happen which would without doubt have taken place had he never prayed. To give another example, it would be unsurpassable folly for a man who was troubled by the scorching sun at the summer solstice to imagine that by his prayer the sun could be shifted back among the vernal constellations, so that he might enjoy a temperate atmosphere. In like manner, for a man to suppose that by prayer he will escape from necessary happenings incidental to the human race, would be to surpass every form of melancholy madness.

S ag ey ee ee ee eee a ae

A OE oo 88 Susanna 42.

89 Matt. 6:8.

90 Wisdom of Solomon 11:24.

ON PRAYER

4. Moreover, if "the wicked are estranged from the womb,"'9! and the righteous man is "separated from' his ''mother's womb,"

92 and if, "the children being not yet' even "born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,"' 93 it is said, "The elder shall serve the younger," 94 in vain do we pray concerning remission of sins or the reception of "the Spirit of might," 95 in order that we may "have might for all things, Christ strengthening us.''°° For if we are "'sinners,' we "are estranged from the womb''97; but if we were

"separated from" our "mother's womb,"' 9? the best things will fall to our lot, even though we should not pray. What prayer did Jacob offer before he was born, that it should be prophesied of him that "he shall prevail' over Esau, and that his brother

*'shall serve' 98 him? What sin did Esau commit, that he should be "hated'' 9° before he was born? Or why does Moses pray, as we find in the eighty-ninth Psalm, if God is his "refuge before the mountains"' were established "'and the earth and the world formedi? 1) ..\:.2

5. Moreover, concerning all those that shall be saved it is recorded in the [Epistle] to the Ephesians that "'the Father chose"' them "in him, in Christ, before foundation of the world," that they "should be holy and without blemish before him, having foreordained"' them "in love unto adoption as sons through Christ unto himself.''3 Either then a man is one of those

"chosen before the foundation of the world," and it is impossible for him to fall from this "'election,''4 and therefore there is no need for him to pray; or else he has not been "'chosen"' neither

''foreordained,"' and it is in vain for him to pray: even were he to pray ten thousand times, he would not be heard. For ""whom"

God "'foreknew,"' them "'he also foreordained to be conformed to the image"' of the glory "'of his Son. And whom he foreordained, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified."'*> Why does

Josiah weary himself, or wherefore when he prays does he take thought whether or no he shall be heard, when many generations previously it was prophesied of him by name, and it was not 91 Ps, 58:3.

92 Cf. Gal. 1:15.

93 Rom. 9:11.

94 Gen. 25:23 (Rom. 9:12).

95 Isa. 11:2.

96 Cf. Phil. 4:13.

97 Cf. Ps. 58:3.

98 Gen. 25:23.

99 Mal.1:3 (Rom. 9:13).

1 Ps. go:t.

2 A lacuna of one and three-sevenths lines occurs here in T, in all likelihood containing another of these rhetorical questions.

3 Eph. 1:3-5.

4 Rom. 9:11.

5 Rom. 8:29, 30.

6 Cf. II Kings 22:11-13, 18, 19; 23:3 ff.

ORIGEN only foreknown but also foretold in the hearing of many what he would then do?? Why, too, should Judas pray, so that "his prayer be turned into sin," it having been previously announced, from the times of '"'David," that he would lose "'his office," and that "another" would "'take"' it in his stead?' And since God is unchangeable and has predetermined everything that is, and abides in what he has pre-arranged, it is obviously inconsistent to pray with the idea of altering his plan by prayer, or of intreating him as one who has not pre-arranged it but awaits each one's prayer. This would be to make prayer the reason why God arranges what is fitting for him who prays, and settles then what is deemed proper, as if it had not already been foreseen by him.

6. Let the position be stated now in the very words of the letter you addressed to me. They are as follows: "First: if God knows the future beforehand, and it must come to pass, prayer is vain. Secondly: if all things happen according to the will of God, and if what is willed by him is fixed, and nothing of what he wills can be changed, prayer is vain." It is useful, I think, to decide these points as a preliminary to solving the difficulties which cause insensibility in regard to prayer.

Answer to these objections (Chapters VI to VIII, 1) VI, 1. Of things that are moved, some derive from without that which moves them, as for example things that are without life, held together merely by their form, and things that are moved by nature and soul, which are moved now and then not as such, but in a manner similar to things that are held together merely by their form. For stones and pieces of wood, which are cut out of the quarry or have lost the power of growing, being held together merely by their form, derive from without that which moves them; moreover the bodies of living creatures and the produce of what has been planted, when they are changed in position by something, are not so changed qua living creatures or plants, but similarly to stones and to pieces of wood which have lost the power of growth; and even if they are moved in virtue of the fact that all bodies as they decay are in a state of flux, this motion which they have is inseparably connected with their state of decay.

In the second place, and distinct from the foregoing, are things that are moved by their own inherent nature or soul,

7 Cf. I Kings 13:1-3.

8 Ps. 109: 7, 8; Acts 1:16, 20.

9 See note.

ON PRAYER

which are said to be moved '"'out of themselves" by those who use the words in their proper sense. A third kind of movement is that which takes place in living creatures, which is called movement "'from within themselves''; but I think that the movement of rational beings is movement "'through themselves." But if we take away from the living creature this movement "'from within itself," it can no longer be conceived of as a living creature, but it will be like either a plant, which is moved merely by nature, or a stone, which is propelled by an external force. But if a thing is inseparably connected with its own movement, since we have called this movement "through itself,' of necessity it must be rational.

2. Therefore, they who hold that we have no free will, !° necessarily take up an extremely foolish position: in the first place, that we are not living creatures; and in the second, that neither are we possessed of reason, but moved, as it were, by some external moving force, and therefore it can in no wise be said of us that we do what we are reckoned to do. Let a man pay particular attention to his own experience and see if it is not impudent for him to affirm that he does not of himself will, or of himself eat, or of himself walk, or of himself assent to or accept any opinions of any sort, or of himself dissent from others as false.

On the assumption that free will is not preserved, a man cannot possibly adopt an attitude towards certain opinions, supported though they may be ten thousand times by skilful and plausible arguments, nor, similarly, can one adopt an attitude in regard to human affairs. Who takes up the position that nothing may be apprehended? Or who lives in suspense of judgment about everything whatsoever? Who does not rebuke his servant, when he imagines negligence on the part of a slave? And who 1s there, who does not accuse a son for failing to render what is due to parents, or does not blame and censure as guilty of a disgraceful act the adulterous wife? For the truth forces and compels us, in spite of thousands of plausible arguments, to take action and to praise and to censure on the assumption that free will is safeguarded, and deserves our praise or blame.

3. If then free will is preserved, with its countless tendencies towards virtue or vice, and, again, towards what is fitting or what is not fitting, it must needs be that this, with all else, has been known to God, before it come to pass, 'from the creation" 1! and "'the foundation of the world,''12 of what sort it shall be;

10 See note.

11 Cf. Rom. 1:20.

12 Cf. Matt. 25:34; Luke 11:50; Heb. 4:3; 9:26; Rev. 13:8; 17:8.

ORIGEN and in everything which God arranges beforehand in accordance with what he has seen concerning each act of free will, he has so arranged it that that which is to happen in virtue of his providence, and also that which is to come to pass in the train of future events, will be the due result of each movement of the free will. But the foreknowledge of God is not the cause of all future events or of future actions performed by us of our free will and mere motion. Even if, for the sake of argument, God were not to know the future, we should not for that reason lose the power of accomplishing or willing this or that. From foreknowledge, however,!3 it follows that each act of free will is adapted to such an arrangement of the whole as the settled order of the universe demands.

4. If then each act of free will has been known to him, it is a reasonable consequence that what has been foreseen by him is arranged by Providence suitably for every single person, and that it is understood beforehand!4 what so-and-so will pray for, his kind of disposition, the nature of his faith, and what he desires to happen to him; and, this being understood beforehand, some sort of arrangement as this will accordingly have been made in the disposing of things: "I will hear this man who will pray intelligently, for the very prayer's sake which he will pray; but this man I will not hear, either because he will be unworthy to be heard, or because he will pray!' for things which are neither profitable for him who prays, nor proper for me to grant; and for this prayer (let us say) of so-and-so I will not hear him; but for that, I will hear him." (If anyone is disturbed by the thought that things have been determined by necessity because God, who knows the future beforehand, cannot lie, it should be said to such a one that this very thing is assuredly known to God, that such and such a man does not assuredly and firmly desire what is better, or that he will so will what is worse that he will be incapable of changing towards what is preferable.) And again, "I will grant this or that to this man who will pray, because it is meet for me to do this for a man who will pray blamelessly and will not prove careless in the matter of prayer; and when he shall pray for a certain time,

I will bestow this or that upon him 'exceeding abundantly above' what he 'asks or thinks,"!5 for it is meet for me to overpass him in good deeds and to supply him with more than he has been able to ask for. Moreover, to such a one, destined to become such as this, I will send this ministering angel, to be his fellow13 Reading av.

14 Adopting the reading of Bentley.

15 Eph. 3:20.

ON PRAYER

worker unto salvation from such a time onward, and to continue with him until such a time. To another, destined to become greater than the first, I will send this angel (let us say), who is more honourable than the other. And as for this third, who after embracing higher teaching is about to grow somewhat weaker and turn backwards to worldly things, from him I will remove this mightier fellow-worker: and when he has departed, some inferior power, seizing the occasion to assault him in his slackness, will now deservedly come upon him, and finding him given over and ready to sin, will incite him to such and such sins."

5. It is in some such way as this that he who orders beforehand the universe will say: ""Amon will beget Josiah, who will not emulate the evil deeds of his father, but will find the path that leads on to virtue, and with the help of those that shall be his fellows will prove to be a good and worthy man, and will

'break down the altar' of 'Jeroboam' that was iniquitously built.1¢ And I know also that Judas, when my Son has come to sojourn among mankind, at the beginning will be a good and worthy man, but afterwards will turn aside and fall into the sins that are common to man, on account of which he will rightly suffer such and such things.'"' (And this foreknowledge, perhaps in respect of all things but certainly in respect of Judas and other mysteries, appertains also to the Son of God, who saw in his understanding of the future circle of events Judas and the sins that would be committed by him: so that with direct apprehension, and before Judas was born, he said by the mouth of David, "'O God, pass not over in silence my praise,"'!7 and so forth.) And knowing the future, and what power!8 for godliness

Paul will have, "'by myself,' he says,19 "'or ever I create the world or set my hand to begin to make it, I will choose out him, and as soon as he is begotten I will provide him with those powers that work together for the salvation of men, 'separating' him 'from' his 'mother's womb,'2° and permitting him at first in his youthful and ignorant zeal under the cloak of godliness to 'persecute'?! them that have believed on my Christ, and to keep

'the garments' of them that 'were stoning' my servant and _ 'martyr Stephen,'2? so that, when this wanton outburst of youth is over, starting again and changing for the better he should

'not glory before'?3 me, but rather say, 'I am not meet to be 16 II Kings 23:15; cf. II Kings 21:24; 22:2.

17 Ps, 109:1.

18 Lit. "'tension."

19 The words "'he says" are inserted by Koetschau.

20 Gal. 1:15.

21 Acts 9:5.

22 Acts 7:59; 22:20.

23 IT Cor. 1:29.

254.

ORIGEN called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God,'24 and, perceiving the bounty that should come to him after the errors committed in youth under the cloak of godliness should say, 'by the grace of God I am what I am,'25 and being prevented by the conscience still with him of what he had done in the impulse of youth, he will not be 'exalted overmuch by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations'2¢ that will be manifested to him by an act of bounty."

VII. And with regard to prayer concerning the rising of the sun,27 the following may be said. Even the sun has a certain free will, inasmuch as it, along with the moon, praises God. Forhe says, 'Praise ye him, sun and moon.''28 And it is clear that this also applies to the moon and consequently all the stars: for he says, ''Praise him all ye stars and light."'28 As therefore we have said2° that God uses to the full the free will of each thing upon earth, and has fittingly disposed them to meet a certain need of the things upon earth, so it must be supposed with regard to the free will of the sun and moon and stars, firmly fixed and wisely established, that he has disposed "'all the host of heaven''3° and the course and movement of the stars harmoniously with the whole universe. And if I do not pray in vain concerning some other thing that has free will, much more is this true concerning the free will of the stars that circle in the heaven conformably to the safety of the whole universe. And yet it must be said concerning those on earth, that certain impressions arising from attendant circumstances induce our instability or inclination to the worse! course, so as to do or say such and such things. But in regard to those in the heaven, what impression can arise to divert or remove from that course which is beneficial to the universe any of those beings who possess a soul that is perfected by reason and alien to the influence of these impressions, and make use of a body whose quality is etherial and absolutely pure?

VIII, 1. Moreover, it is not unreasonable to use some such illustration as this to encourage the practice of prayer and discourage the neglect of prayer. As it is not possible to beget a child without a woman and the possession of the necessary powers of begetting, so a man may not obtain this or that, unless he has prayed in such a way, with such a disposition, with 24 I Cor. 15:9.

25 I Cor. 15:10.

26 II Cor. 12:7.

27 See V, 3.

28 Ps, 148:3.

29 See VI, 3.

30 Deut. 4:19.

31 Reading yeipov, with Bentley: the MSS. have "'better course."'

ON PRAYER

such a belief; and if before the prayer he has not lived in such a manner. Therefore, '"'vain repetitions" ought not to be "'used,"'32 nor ought we to ask for little things,?3 nor ought we to pray concerning earthly things, nor ought we to come to prayer in "wrath''34 and with agitated thoughts; indeed, without purity a man cannot secure the giving of himself to prayer,35 nor can he who prays obtain forgiveness of sins, unless "from" his |

"heart'' he "'forgives his brother''3¢ who has committed a fault | and asks to receive pardon.

Advantages of Prayer (Chapters VIII, 2, to X, 2) In my opinion benefit often accrues to him who prays as he ought or endeavours as far as in him lies to do so. In the first place, without doubt he whose mind is set on prayer is in some sense profited merely by the settled condition involved in praying, when he has disposed himself to approach God and speak in his presence as to one who watches over him and is present. For just as certain impressions and recollections of this or that sully the thoughts that have been involved in these impressions, in connection with the subjects of these recollections; in the same way we must believe that it is profitable to recollect

God in whom we have put our trust, who perceives the secret movements of the soul, when it composes itself to please him who "'trieth the hearts and searcheth out the reins''37 as one who is present and spies out and anticipates every purpose.

For if, for the sake of argument, he who sets his mind to prayer obtains no benefit beyond this, it is to be observed that he who thus devoutly disposes himself at the time of prayer profits in no ordinary way. And if this happens often, how many sins it prevents and how many good deeds it promotes, is known by experience to those who have given themselves continually to prayer. For if the calling to mind and reminiscence of an illustrious man who has profited by wisdom stirs us up to emulate him and often checks evil impulses, how much more does the calling to mind of God, the Father of the universe, together with prayer to him, benefit those who are confident in themselves that they stand before and speak to God as one who is present and hears?

IX, 1. What we have said must be proved from the divine Scriptures on this manner. He who prays ought to "'lift up holy

32 Matt. 6:7.

33 See IT, 2.

34 I Tim. 2:8.

35 Cf. I Cor. 7:5.

36 Matt. 18:35.

37 Cf. Ps. 7:9; Jer. 11:20; 17:10; Rom. 8:27; Rev. 2:23.

ORIGEN hands''3* by forgiving everyone who has sinned against him, 39 having removed from his soul the feeling of "wrath,"38 and being angry with no one. Again, in order that his mind may not be distracted by other thoughts, he ought to forget, during the time when he prays, all things outside his prayer (how could such a one be other than most blessed?), as Paul teaches in his first [epistle] to Timothy, saying, "I desire therefore that the men pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without wrath or disputings.'' 4° Moreover, a woman, especially when praying, ought to be sedate and modest in soul and body, reverencing

God above all things when she prays, having banished from the ruling reason every licentious and womanish recollection, adorned not "'with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly raiment, but'' with the things which it "becomes a woman professing godliness" to be ''adorned'' (could anyone doubt, I wonder, that such a woman who has thus given herself to prayer would be manifestly blessed merely as a result of such an attitude?), as Paul taught in the same epistle, saying, that "women in like manner adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment, but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works.''4!

2. The prophet*+? David also has much to say concerning the blessings that the saint has in prayer. And it is not irrelevant to quote the following, so that we may clearly see that the greatest benefits result from the attitude of, and preparation for, prayer, considered simply by themselves, of the man who has dedicated himself to God. He says, then: "'Unto thee have I lifted up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heaven''43; and,

"Unto thee have I lifted up my soul, O God."'44 When the eyes of the understanding are lifted up, away from converse with earthly things and occupation with material impressions, and when they are elevated so high that they can transcend created things and fix themselves solely upon the contemplation of God and of reverent and seemly intercourse with him who hears, it must needs be that the eyes themselves derive the greatest benefit, when "with unveiled face they reflect as a mirror the glory of the Lord, and are transformed into the same image from glory to glory."

45 For they then partake of a kind of divine spiritual effluence, as is indicated in the words: "'the light of thy

38 [ Tim. 2:8.

39 Cf. Matt. 6:12, 14; Luke 11:4.

40 J Tim. 2:8.

41 I Tim. 2:9, 10.

42 Cf. Acts 2:30.

43 Ps, 12331.

48 Ps. e213 5ot 45 II Cor. 3:18.

ON PRAYER

countenance, O Lord, was signed upon us."'46 Moreover, when the soul is lifted up and follows the spirit and severs itself from the body—and not only follows the spirit but also dwells in it, as is indicated in the words: "'Unto thee have I lifted up my soul''47—it must needs be that laying aside the nature of a-soul it becomes spiritual. g. And if to bear no malice is the greatest excellence, as would appear from the prophet Jeremiah, when he says that the whole law is summed up in it: "I commanded not'' these things "'to your fathers'? when they were coming forth "'out of Egypt," but "I commanded this,''48 "Let no one bear malice against his'? neighbour "'in"' his "heart''49; and if putting aside such malice in coming to prayer we observe the commandment of the Saviour, when he says, "If ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against anyone,''5° it is clear that in so doing, as we stand to pray, we have already obtained the greatest blessings.

X, 1. The foregoing has been said on the supposition that even if no other result followed our prayers, we gain the greatest blessings when we understand how to pray as we ought and when we carry this out. And it is clear that he who thus prays will hear '"'while"' he "is yet speaking," perceiving, by the power of him who "hears in heaven,''5! the "Here I am," having cast aside, before he prayed, all dissatisfaction concerning Providence. This is indicated in the words: "If thou take away from thee the yoke, the putting forth of the hand and the word of:

| murmuring.' 52 He who is well pleased with what happens has been set free from every kind of "'yoke," nor does he "'put forth the hand"' against God, when he orders what he wills for our training; nor yet again does he "murmur'' in his secret thoughts apart from an utterance that men can hear. This murmuring is like that of wicked servants who do not openly cavil at their masters' orders. Thus do they murmur who do not dare audibly or whole-heartedly to speak evil of Providence for what has happened; they wish as it were to escape the notice even of the Lord of the universe as concerning those things at which they are displeased. I think that this is the point of the words in the Book of Job: "In all these happenings did not Job sin with his lips before God''53; it having been written of the previous trial,>4

"In all these happenings did not Job sin before God.''55 That 46 Ps, 4:6, 47 Ps, 25:1.

48 Cf. Jer. 7:22,.23.

49 Zech. 7:10.

50 Mark 11:25.

51 ] Kings 8:30.

52 Isa. 58:9.

53 Job 2:10.

54 Adopting, with Koetschau, a slight change of text.

55 Job 1:22.

A.C.--17

ORIGEN this ought not to occur the saying in Deuteronomy ordains:

''Beware that there be not a hidden word in thine heart, a lawless thing, saying, 'The seventh year is at hand,''5¢ and so forth.

2. He then that so prays receives such benefit that he is made more capable of union with him who "has filled the world," even ''the Spirit''57 of the Lord, and with him who has "'filled"' all "'the earth" and "'the heaven,"' who speaks thus through the prophet: "Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord?''58

And further, by means of the purification mentioned above, 5? he will participate in the prayer of the Word of God, who stands in the midst even of those who know him not, and never fails the prayer of anyone, but prays to the Father along with him whose mediator he is. For the Son of God is the "high priest''®° of our offerings and 'fan Advocate with the Father,''*! praying on behalf of those who pray, pleading along with those who plead: nevertheless, he will not pray as on behalf of his own for those who do not pray continually through him, nor will he be

'"'an Advocate with" God as on behalf of his very own for those who do not obey his teachings that one "ought always to pray, and not to faint." 62 For, it is said, ""he spake a parable" that one

"ought always to pray, and not to faint. There was in a city a judge," ®3 and so forth. And in a previous passage, "'And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine is come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.''*4 And, a little further on, "I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth."'°5 Who is there who believes in the unerring utterance of Jesus, who would not be stirred up to instant prayer by his saying, "'Ask and it shall be given you, for everyone that asketh receiveth''°*? since the '"'kind Father,"'67 when we ask him for "'the living bread''®' (not "the stone''® which the adversary" desires for the food of Jesus and his disciples) gives to them who have "received the spirit of adoption" from "the Father''7!; and "the Father gives the good gift,"'72

"raining it from heaven,"'73 to them that ask him.

56 Deut. 15:9.

57 Wisdom of Solomonti:7.

58 Jer. 23:24.

89 See VIII, 1.

60 Heb. 2:17, etc.

61 | John 2:1.

62 Luke 18:1.

63 Luke 18:1, 2.

64 Luke 11:5, 6.

65 Luke 11:8.

66 Matt. 7:7, 8; Luke 11:9, 10.

67 Luke 6:35.

68 John 6:51.

69 Cf. Matt. 4:3; Luke 4:3; Matt. 7:9; ee II:1I.

70. Cf. Zech. 3:1.

71 Rom. 8:15.

72 Cf. Matt. 7:11; Luke 11:13.

73 Ex. 16:4.

ON PRAYER

The angels, as well as Christ, pray with us (Chapter XI) XI, 1. Not only does the high priest pray along with those that genuinely pray, but also the angels "in heaven,"' who rejoice "over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine righteous persons, which need no repentance,"'74 and so do also the souls of the saints who have fallen asleep before us. This is indicated in the following references. On the one hand,

Raphael offered for Tobit and Sarah a reasonable sacrifice75 to God.7¢ For after the prayer of both, "the prayer of both," the Scripture says, "'was heard before the glory of the great Raphael, and he was sent to heal them both."77 And Raphael himself, when disclosing the mission that he had as an angel to them both by God's command, says, "And now, when thou didst pray, and Sarah thy daughter in law, I did bring the memorial of your prayer before the Holy One."'78 And a little lower down:

"I am Raphael, one of the seven angels, which present [the prayers of the saints],79 and go in before the glory of the Holy

One." 8° Certainly, according to the word of Raphael, "'good is prayer with fasting and alms and righteousness.''8! On the other hand, "Jeremiah" is represented in the Books of the Maccabees as "'of venerable age and exceeding glory," so that "wonderful and most majestic was the dignity around him,"'82 and "'stretching forth his right hand, he delivered to Judas a sword of gold.'"'83 To whom bore witness another of the saints who have fallen asleep before us, saying, ""This is he who prayeth much for the people and the holy city, Jeremiah the prophet of God.''84

2. Since knowledge is disclosed to them that are worthy in this present life "'through a mirror" and "'in a riddle," but is revealed hereafter '"'face to face,''85 it is indeed absurd not to employ this analogy in thinking also of the other virtues; for what has been prepared for in this life is properly perfected hereafter. Now according to the divine word one of the chiefest virtues is love to one's neighbour.

*5¢ And we must hold that the saints who have fallen asleep before us exercise towards those who are struggling in this life much more than do they who are compassed about with human weakness and are struggling in 74 Luke 15:7.

75 tepoupyiav.

76 Cf. Tobit 12:12.

77 'Tobit 3:16, 17.

78 Tobit 12:12.

79 The words in brackets are absent from the MS. T, but are found in the LXX.

80 Tobit 12:15.

81 Tobit 12:8.

82 I] Maccabees 15:13, 14.

83 II Maccabees 15:15.

84 II Maccabees 15:14.

85 I Cor. 13:12.

85 Cf. Matt. 5:43, 44; Luke 6:35; 10:27 etc.

ORIGEN company with feebler folk. It is not only in this life that the words: "If one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it'; and "if one member is honoured, all the members rejoice with it''86 may be applied to those who love the brethren; for it can be fittingly said also of the love that animates those outside this present life, "'anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is made to stumble, and I burn not?''87

Christ also acknowledges as concerning each of the saints that are "'sick"' that he is "'sick"' likewise, and that he is "in prison," and that he is "naked, a stranger,' and 'an hungred"' and "'thirsty.''88 What reader of the Gospel does not know that Christ refers to himself the happenings of the faithful and reckons their sufferings as his own?

3. If "angels"? of God "'coming to" Jesus "'ministered unto him,''8° we must not suppose that this ministry of angels to Jesus was only for the short period of his bodily sojourn among men, since he is still "'in the midst of"' believers, not as "'sitting at meat," but "as serving."'°° How many angels therefore may there be ministering to Jesus as he seeks to "gather together the children of Israel one by one''9! and muster them of "the Dispersion,"'®2 and as he saves them that fear and call upon him?93

Do not they, even more than the apostles, work together for the increase and multiplying of the Church (for certain rulers of the churches are called "'angels''®4 by Johnin the Apocalypse)?

It is not in vain that "the angels of God ascend and descend upon the Son of man,''95 being seen by those whose eyes have been "'enlightened"' with "the light of knowledge.''96

4. At the actual time of prayer, being reminded by him who prays of what he needs, the angels do all in their power to bring it to good effect in virtue of the general command which they have received. Let me use the following illustration to commend my thought on this matter. Suppose that a physician with a regard for righteousness was present when a sick man was praying concerning his health; and that he knew how to heal the disease concerning which this man was offering up his prayer.

It is clear that the physician will be moved to heal the man who prayed, perhaps not unreasonably supposing that this very thing was in the mind of God when he gave ear to the prayer of him who prayed to him for the removal of the disease. Or sup86 I Cor. 12:26.

87 TI Cor. 11:28, 29.

89 Matt. 4:11.

90 Luke 22:27.

91 Tsa, 27:12.

92 Cf. John 7:35; 10:16; 11:52.

93 Cf. Acts 2:21; Rom. 10:12, 13.

94 Rev. 1:20, etc.

95 John 1:51.

96 Hos. 10:12 (LXX).

ON PRAYER

pose that a man abundantly possessed of the means of livelihood and liberally disposed should hear the prayer of a poor man as he offers his petition to God for his needs: it is plain that he too will fulfil for the poor man the substance of his prayer, thus becoming a minister of the Father's will, who brings together to the same place at the time of the prayer both him who is about to pray and also him who is able to supply the request and unable because of his kindly disposition to disregard him who stands in need of such and such things.

5. We need not suppose that these happenings, when they occur, come by chance, since he who "'has numbered the hairs of the head'' 97 of the saints fittingly brings together at the time of the prayer to hear it him who is to act as the minister of the man who seeks the benefit from God and the man who truly stands in need. In the same way we are to assume that the angels, who watch over things and minister to God, are at times brought into the presence of this or that man who is praying, in order that they may join in the requests that he is making in his prayer. And indeed "the angel' of each one and of the "'little ones' in the Church, "'always beholding the face of the Father which is in heaven,''98 and gazing upon the divinity of him who created us, joins in our prayers and co-operates as far as possible in the objects for which we pray.

Our whole life ought to be a prayer (Chapters XII to XIII, 1) XII, 1. Moreover, I hold that the words of the prayer of the saints are filled with power, especially when "praying with the spirit" they "pray with the understanding also.''9? 'This last 1s like a light shining from the mind of him who is praying, and going forth from his mouth, to weaken by the power of God the spiritual poison injected by hostile powers into the reason of those who neglect prayer, and do not observe the saying "pray without ceasing'! spoken by Paul in conformity with the exhortations of Jesus. It goes forth like a dart from the soul of the saint who prays, sent on its way by knowledge and reason or by faith, !* and inflicts a wound for the destruction and overthrow of the spirits that are at enmity with God, and desire to cast around us the bonds of sin.

2. That man "prays without ceasing'! (virtuous deeds or commandments fulfilled being included as part of prayer) who 97 Matt. 10:30; Luke 12:7.

98 Matt. 18:10.

99 I Cor. 14:15.

1] Thess. 5:17.

1a Following an emendation of the text.

ORIGEN combines with the prayer the needful 'deeds and the prayer with the fitting actions. For thus alone can we accept "pray without ceasing'? as a practicable saying, if we speak of the whole life of the saint as one great unbroken prayer: of which prayer that which is commonly called prayer is a part. This ought to be engaged in not less than three times every day, as is clear from the case of Daniel, who when great danger hung over him "prayed three times a day.''3 "'Peter'' also, "going up to the housetop about the sixth hour to pray,'' when also he saw the ''vessel let down''4 from heaven, "'let down by four corners,''5 is evidence for the middle one of the three prayers, while the one before it is spoken of by David, '"'In the morning shalt thou hear my" prayer,® "'in the morning will I order [my prayer] unto thee and will look up''7; and the final one is indicated in the words "'the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice."'8

Indeed we shall not fittingly pass even the night time without this prayer: for David says, '"At midnight did I rise to give thanks unto thee for the judgments of thy righteousness' 9; and "Paul," as is stated in the Acts of the Apostles, '"'about midnight" in company with "Silas," at Philippi, "was praying and singing hymns unto God," so that even the "prisoners listened to them."'!0

XIII, 1. Now if Jesus prays, and does not pray in vain, obtaining through prayer what he asks for (and perhaps he would not have received it without prayer), which of us may neglect prayer? For Mark says, "'In the morning, a great while before day, he rose up and went out, and departed into a desert place, and there prayed."'!1 And Luke: "'And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, that when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him''12; and elsewhere: "'and he continued all night in prayer to God."13 And John records his prayer thus: ""These things spake Jesus; and lifting up his eyes to heaven, he said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.''!4 Also, the saying of the Lord

"T knew that thou hearest me always,"'!5 recorded by the same writer, shows that praying "always'' is "always" heard.

21 Thess. 5:17.

3 Dan. 6:10.

4 Perhaps descending should be read (Acts 10:11).

5 Acts 10:9-11.

6 The Hebrew and LXX have "'voice." ll Seed oo 8 Ps, 14132.

9 Ps. 119:62.

10 Acts 16:25.

11 Mark 1:35.

12 Luke 11:1.

13 Luke 6:12.

14 John 17:1.

15 John 11:42.

ON PRAYER

Examples from Scripture of answered prayer (Chapter XIII, 2) 2. But why need I tell the tale of those who have obtained the greatest blessings from God by praying as they ought? Each one can collect for himself from the Scriptures many examples.

Hannah ministered to the birth of Samuel, who was reckoned along with Moses,!° when, having no child, she prayed in faith to the Lord.17 Hezekiah, when as yet he was childless, on learning from Isaiah that he was about to die, prayed, 18 and has been given a place in the genealogy of the Saviour.!° Again, when the people [of the Jews] were about to be destroyed as a result of the plot of Haman under a single decree, the prayer with fasting of Mordecai and Esther was heard, and it gave birth to "'the" joyful "day of Mordecai''2° among the people,?! an addition to the feasts established by Moses. Judith, moreover, when she had offered up a holy prayer overcame Holophernes with the help of God, and a woman of the Hebrews single-handed brought shame upon the house of Nebuchadnezzar.22 Also, Ananias,

Azarias, and Misael in due answer to their prayer were sent '"'a whistling dewy wind"' which prevented '"'the flame of fire" from exerting its power.23 And the mouths of the Babylonians' "'lions in the den" were stopped by the prayers of Daniel.24 And Jonah too did not despair of being heard from "'the belly of the great fish"? which "swallowed"? him, and when he came out from the belly of the fish he fulfilled what was lacking of his prophecy concerning the Ninevites.?5

Similar prayers are also answered today (Chapter XIII, 3-5) 3. How many things could each of us tell of, had we the desire, out of a thankful remembrance of benefits conferred upon us, to offer praises to God concerning them? Souls that have long been sterile, perceiving the barrenness of their own reason and the sterility of their own mind, have by the Holy Spirit through persistent prayer conceived and given birth to saving words filled with perceptions of truth. How many enemies have been destroyed, when time and again myriads of a hostile power fought against us and sought to turn us from the divine faith?

Then we took heart of grace because "'some"' trust "in chariots"' and "'some in horses," but "we" calling upon "the name of the 16 Jer. 15:1; cf. Ps. 99:6.

17 T Sam. 1:9 ff.

18 Cf. II Kings 20:1 ff.; Isa. 38:1 ff. 19 Matt. 1:9, 10.

20 II Maccabees 15:36.

21 Cf. Esth. 3:6, 7; 4:16, 17; 9:26-—28, 22 Judith 13:4-10.

; 23 Dan. 3:24, 49, 50 (LXX).

24 Dan. 6:16, 22.

25 Jonah 1:17; 2:1; 3:1-4.

264.

ORIGEN Lord''?¢ perceive that truly "an horse is a vain thing for safety."'

Moreover, he who puts his trust in praise to God oftentimes brings to nought "the chief captain''2® of the adversary, even that deceitful and plausible word, which causes many to cower for fear, even of those who are reckoned faithful. For Judith signifies praise. What need is there also to speak of the numbers of those who have often encountered trials, hard to overcome, more searing than any flame, and yet have suffered therein no hurt, but have passed through them quite unharmed, not even receiving in the ordinary way the harm of "'the smell of the"' enemy's ''fire.''22 Moreover, how many wild beasts, enraged against us, even evil spirits and cruel men, have they fallen in. with, and by their prayers often stopped their mouths, so that they could not fasten their teeth upon those of us who have become "'the members of Christ''? 3° Often for each of the saints

"the Lord hath broken the great teeth of the lions,"' and "'they have melted away as water that passeth by."3! And we have often known those who had fled from the commandments of God and were "swallowed up''32 of death, which in days gone by had power over them, who through repentance were saved from utter disaster, because they did not despair of the possibility of salvation even when held fast "in the belly of?'33 death. For "death, prevailing, swallowed them up; and God hath taken away again every tear from off every face.''34

4. I consider that, after giving a list of those who have been benefited by prayer, it has been most necessary to add this, in order to turn away from prayer for trivial and earthly things earnest seekers after spiritual life in Christ, and to exhort the readers of this book to the pursuit of things mystical, of which the aforesaid were types. For prayer concerning the spiritual and mystical blessings that we have indicated above, is always and in every case brought to good effect by him who "'does not war according to the flesh,''35 but who "'by the spirit mortifies the deeds of the body,''3¢ those who seek out and establish the higher sense being preferred to those who appear to receive benefits prayed for according to the letter. And in our case we must make it our endeavour that the soul37 be not childless or barren, as we listen to the spiritual law with spiritual ears: so 26 Ps, 20:7.

27 Ps. 33:17.

28 Judith 2:4, etc.

29 Dan. 3:27.

30 IT Cor. 6:15.

31 Ps, 58:7, 8.

32 Jonah 2:1, 2.

33 Jonah 2:1, 2.

34 Isa. 25:8.

35 II Cor. 10:3.

36 Rom. 8:13.

37 "soul"' is supplied from a conjecture of Bentley.

ON PRAYER

that putting aside childlessness or barrenness we may be heard as Hannah and Hezekiah were, and may be delivered from enemies that plot against us, even the spiritual forces of evil, as Mordecai and Esther and Judith were. And since "'Egypt'' is

"an iron furnace,''38 being a symbol of every terrestrial place, let every one who has escaped from the evil in human life, and has not been set on fire by sin, nor had his heart full of fire like a furnace, give thanks no less than they did who were tried in a "fire of dew.''39 Moreover, let him who has been heard when in his prayer he said "deliver not to the wild beasts the soul that hath acknowledged thee,"'4° and has suffered no hurt "'from the adder and the basilisk," because Christ has enabled him to "tread upon"' them, and has "trampled under foot the lion and the dragon,''4! and has used the good "'power given" by Jesus

"to tread upon serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, ''42 and has been in no wise harmed by such like— let such a one give greater thanks than Daniel did, inasmuch as he has been delivered from more fearful and harmful wild beasts. And further, he who is persuaded of what "'great fish" that which "'swallowed'' Jonah is the type,+3 and comprehends that it is the one spoken of by Job, "Let him curse it that curses the day, who is ready to overpower the great fish,''44 if at any time he should happen to find himself because of disobedience

"in the belly of the fish''45; let him repent and pray, and he shall go forth therefrom; and going forth and continuing to obey the commandments of God he shall be able in "the kindness" of "the Spirit''4® to prophesy to the Ninevites that are perishing even now and become for them a cause of salvation, if he is not displeased at the "'goodness of God" and does not seek that his

""severity''47 should continue towards them that repent.

5. Lhe greatest thing that Samuel is said to have wrought by prayer, this in the spiritual sense it is possible for every one who is genuinely devoted to God to accomplish even now, since he has become worthy of being heard. For it is written: "And now stand, and see this great thing, which the Lord doeth before your eyes. Is it not wheat harvest today? I will call upon the Lord, and he will give thunder and rain." Then, after a little:

*'And Samuel called," he says, ''unto the Lord, and the Lord gave thunder and rain that day.''48 For to every saint and to the 38 Deut. 4:20.

39 Dan. 3:49, 50 (LXX).

40 Ps. 73:19 (LXX). at Ps O73 15.

42 Luke 10:19.

43 Jonah 1:17.

44 Job. 3:8.

45 Jonah 2:1.

46 Gal. 5:22.

47 Rom. 11:22 (cf. Jonah 4:1, 2).

48. I Sam. 12:16-18.

ORIGEN genuine disciple of Jesus it is said by the Lord: "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white already unto harvest. He that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life eternal.''48* Verily at that season of harvest "'the Lord doeth a great thing before the eyes" of them that hear the prophets. For when he who has been adorned with the Holy

Spirit has "called unto the Lord," God gives from heaven "thunder, and rain" that refreshes the soul, so that he who was formerly in wickedness might "greatly fear the Lord''49 and the minister of the benefit wrought by God, manifested as reverend and venerable in that his prayer is heard. And Elijah also opened "'the heaven,"' after it had been "shut up"' by the divine word for ''three years and six months''5° because of transgressions. And this good result follows always for everyone whomsoever who through prayer receives the rain of the soul, having been formerly deprived of it by reason of sin.

Prayer: (a) Content, (b) Forms, (c) To whom addressed (Chapters XIV to XVII) XIV, 1. Having thus expounded the benefits which come to the saints from prayer, let us go on to observe the saying: "Ask for the great things, and the little things shall be added unto you" and ''Ask for the heavenly things, and the earthly things shall be added unto you.''5! It is clear that all symbolical and typical things are "small" and "earthly" in comparison with the true and spiritual things. And in all likelihood the divine word, in exhorting us to imitate the prayers of the saints, so that we may obtain in truth what they obtained in figure, 52 indicates the "heavenly" and "great" things by means of matters connected with "earthly" and "'little" things, saying: ""Ye who desire to be spiritual ask in prayer, so that having received them as 'heavenly' ye may inherit the kingdom of heaven, and as 'great' ye may enjoy the greatest blessings; but the 'earthly' and 'little' things, of which ye are in want for bodily necessities, the Father will supply unto you in accordance with the measure of your need."'

2. Since the apostle in the First Epistle to Timothy uses four nouns with reference to four matters closely connected with the subject of prayer, it will be useful to quote his saying exactly and to see if we rightly take each of the four in its proper sense. He

48a John 4:35, 36.

49 I Sam. 12:16-18.

50 Luke 4:25; cf. James 5:17, 18.

51 See II, 2.

52 A textual emendation has been adopted: see note.

ON PRAYER

says as follows: "I exhort, therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men,''53 and so forth. I consider, then, that a "supplication"? is a petition offered with entreaty for the obtaining of something which a person lacks; a "prayer'' is offered in a dignified manner with ascription of praise by some one concerning matters of importance; an ''intercession" is a request to God for certain things made by one who possesses more than usual confidence;

"thanksgiving" is an acknowledgement, with prayer, that blessings have been obtained from God, the greatness of that for which acknowledgement is made having been recognized, or else the apparent greatness to him who has been benefited of the benefit that has been conferred upon him.

3. Examples of the first of these terms are as follows: (1) The word of Gabriel to Zacharias when he had prayed, as we may suppose, concerning the birth of John, which runs thus: "'Fear not, Zacharias: because thy supplication is heard, and thy wife

Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John."'54 (2) What is written in Exodus in connection with the making of the calf, after this manner: ""And Moses made supplication before the Lord God and said, Why doth thy wrath, O

Lord, wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with great power?''55 (3) In Deuteronomy:

"And I made supplication before the Lord the second time, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sins which ye sinned.''5¢

(4) In Esther: "Mordecai made supplication to God, calling to mind all the works of the Lord, and he said, Lord, Lord,

King, ruling over all things''57; and Esther herself "'made supplication to the Lord, the God of Israel, and said, Lord, our

King.''58

4. Examples of the second term for prayer are as follows:

(1) In Daniel: "And Azarias stood up and prayed thus, and opened his mouth in the midst of the fire and said.''5® (2) 'Tobit:

'And I prayed in sorrow, saying, Thou art righteous, O Lord, and all thy works; all thy ways are mercy and truth, and thou judgest true and righteous judgment for ever.'' © But since "they of the circumcision''®! have obelized the passage in Daniel, as 53 [ Tim. 2:1.

54 Luke 1:13.

55 Ex, 32:11.

6 Deut. 9:18.

57 Esth. 13:8, 9 (R.V. and Vulg.); 4:17 a, b (LXX).

58 Esth. 14:3 (R.V. and Vulg.); 4:17 k, 1 (LXX).

59 Dan. 3:25 (L.XX).

60 Tobit 3:1, 2.

61 Acts 10:45; 11:2; Rom. 4 12; Gal. 2:12; Col. 4:11; Titus 1:10.

ORIGEN not found in the Hebrew, and since they reject the book of Tobit as uncanonical, I will quote (3) from the First Book of the Kingdoms the passage about Hannah: "And she prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. And she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid,''62 and so forth. (4) In Habakkuk: "A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, with a song.®3 O Lord, I have heard thy voice, and was afraid: O Lord, I perceived thy works and was astounded; in the midst of two living creatures thou shalt be known, when the years draw nigh thou shalt be observed.''5+ This passage is an excellent illustration of the definition of prayer, because it is offered with an ascription of praise by him who prayed. (5) Moreover, in the Book of Jonah: '"'Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly, and he said, I called in my affliction unto the Lord my God, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell thou heardest my crying, even my voice.

Thou didst cast me forth into the depths of the heart of the sea, and the rivers were round about me.''65

5. An example of the third term for prayer is to be found (1) with the Apostle, when with good reason he places '"'prayer" within our power, but "intercession"? within the power of the Spirit, since he is greater and has "boldness toward"'®* him with whom he intercedes. "'For we know not how to pray," he says, '"'as we ought; but the Spirit himself maketh intercession exceedingly to God with groanings which cannot be uttered.

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints.''®7 The Spirit "intercedes exceedingly" and '"'intercedes"; but we "pray. (2) Intercession also seems to me to be involved in what is said by Joshua about the sun standing still in Gabaoth: '""Then spake Joshua to the Lord, in the day when God delivered the Amorites into the hand of Israel, when he destroyed them in Gabaoth, and they were destroyed from the face of the children of Israel. And Joshua said, Let the sun stand still upon Gabaoth, and the moon in the ravine of Edom." 68 (3) And in Judges, I think that Samson intercedes when he said, ''Let my soul die along with the Philistines," when "he leaned with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein." 6? And though it is not stated that Joshua and Samson "'interceded," but that they "spoke," what they said

62 I] Sam. 1:10, 11.

63 See note.

64 Hab. 3:1, 2.

65 Jonah 2:1, 2, 3.

66 Cf. I John 3:21.

67 Rom. 8:26, 27.

68 Josh. 10:12, 69 Judg. 16:30. a a

ON PRAYER

seems to me to be "'intercession,'? which in my opinion is different from "prayer," if we use the terms in their proper sense.

An example of "'thanksgiving" is to be found in our Lord's words, ''I thank? thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes."7! For exhomologoumai has the same meaning as eucharisto.

6. Now, supplication and intercession and thanksgiving may not unsuitably be addressed to holy men also; but two of them

(I mean intercession and thanksgiving) not only to the saints but also to other men,7?2 while supplication is addressed to the saints only, if, for example, a Paul or a Peter can be found, in order that they may help us by making us worthy to receive the "'authority" given to them "to forgive sins.''73 Nevertheless, if we wrong someone who is not a saint, it is permitted to us, conscious of our sin against him, to supplicate such a one also, that he may pardon our wrongdoing. And if these may be addressed to holy men, how much more may thanksgiving be made to Christ, who has wrought such benefits for us by the will of the Father? Moreover, we may intercede with him, as Stephen did when he said, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge''74; and imitating the father of him who was "epileptic," say, "I beseech" thee, Lord, "have mercy," either on "'my son,''75 or on myself, or on any one whomsoever.

XV, 1. If we understand what prayer is, perhaps we ought not to pray to anyone born [of woman], nor even to Christ himself, but only to the God and Father of all, to whom also our

Saviour prayed, as we have mentioned before,76 and teaches us to pray.77 For when he heard "Teach us to pray,' he did not "teach" them "'to pray''78 to himself, but to the Father, saying,

*'Our Father which art in heaven,"'79 and so forth. For if, as is shown elsewhere, the Son is different from the Father in person and in subject,®° we must pray either to the Son and not to the Father, or to both, or to the Father alone. Now, everyone without exception will agree that it would be most absurd to pray to the Son and not to the Father, and that to maintain this would be contrary to revealed truth. If we were to pray to both, this would involve making our requests in the plural, saying in our

70 éfouodoyotpat.

71 Matt. 11:25; Luke 1o:21.

72 Text as emended by Klostermann.

73 Cf. Matt. 9:6; John 20:23.

74 Acts 7:60.

75 Matt. 17:15; Luke 9:38.

76 See XIII, 1.

77 Cf. Matt. 6:5 ff.; Luke 11:1 ff 78 Luke 11:2.

79 Matt. 6:9.

80 See note.

ORIGEN

prayers "'provide ye," "do ye good," "supply ye,"

"'save ye," and so on: this would be in itself incongruous, nor can anyone give an instance from the Scriptures of any persons using this mode of expression. It remains, therefore, to pray only to God the Father of all, but not apart from the high priest,8! who was

'"appointed''8?2 by the Father "with the taking of an oath," in accordance with the words "'he sware and will not repent himself, thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek."'83

2. When therefore the saints give thanks in their prayers to God, they acknowledge his favours through Christ Jesus. And as it is not fitting that a man who prays with due care should pray to him who prays but rather to him whom our Lord Jesus has taught us to call upon in prayer, even the Father, so also no prayer should be offered to the Father apart from him, as he himself shows us clearly when he says, '"'Verily, verily, I say unto you, If ye shall ask anything of my Father, he will give it you in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be fulfilled."84 For he did not say, ""Ask me,"' nor yet, ""Ask the Father'' simply, but, "If ye shall ask anything of my Father, he will give it you in my name." For until Jesus had given this teaching, no one had "asked the Father in the name"' of the Son. It was a true saying of Jesus: "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name''; and true also the saying: "Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be fulfilled."

3. But if anyone, thinking that he ought to pray to Christ himself, and confused by the meaning of the word "worship," should bring forward to us the saying: "'Let all the angels of God worship him'''> (admittedly in Deuteronomy spoken of Christ), we should say to him that the Church also, named Jerusalem by the prophet, is said to be worshipped by kings and queens, who have become her nursing fathers and mothers. The passage is as follows: "'Behold, I lift up mine hand to the nations, and will lift up mine ensign to the isles; and they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and will lift up thy daughters upon their shoulders.

And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall worship [thee]8® with their face to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord, and shalt not be ashamed.''87

4. Without doubt, he who said,8§ '""'Why callest thou me 81 Heb, 2:17, etc.

82 Heb. 8:3.

83 Heb. 7:20, 21.

84 John 16:23, 24.

85 Deut. 32:43 (LXX); Heb. 1:6.

86 "'thee,"' absent from the MS. T, is supplied from the LXX.

87 Isa. 49:22, 23.

88 For text of this passage, see note.

ON PRAYER

good? none is good save one, even God, the Father," 89 might also say, ""Why dost thou pray to me? It is right to pray to the Father alone, to whom I also pray: as you learn from the holy

Scriptures. For you ought not to pray to him who was 'appointed high priest' 9° on your behalf by the Father and who received from the Father the office of 'advocate,'®! but rather through the high priest and advocate, who 'can be touched with the feeling of' your 'infirmities,' and 'hath been in all points tempted' as you are, yet because of the gift bestowed on me by the Father 'tempted without sin.' 92 Learn therefore how great a gift you have received from my Father, having 'received' through regeneration 93 in me 'the spirit of adoption,' 94 that you may be called 'sons of God.'95 For you have read the saying addressed to the Father that was spoken by me concerning you through David: 'I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I sing thy praise.' 9° It is not reasonable that those who have been deemed worthy to have

'one'97 Father with him should pray to a brother. Therefore your prayer ought to be offered to the Father alone with me and through me."

XVI, 1. Hearing, then, Jesus saying these things, let us pray to God through him, all saying the same thing, and in no way divided concerning the manner of prayer. Are we not divided, if some of us pray to the Father, others to the Son? Those who pray to the Son, either with the Father or apart from the Father, sin with great simplicity through ignorance of the subject due to lack of examination and inquiry. Let us pray, then, as to God, let us make intercession as to a Father, let us make supplication as to a Lord, let us give thanks as to God and Father and Lord, and in no wise as to the Lord of a slave. For the Father might rightly be reckoned both as Lord of the Son and Lord of them who have become sons through him. As "'he is not the God of the dead, but of the living,'' 98 so he is not the Lord of ignoble slaves, but of those who are ennobled, who at the beginning, because of their infancy, lived in fear, but afterwards in love serve a happier servitude than that of fear.1

For it is in the soul, and to him alone who sees the heart, that the marks of God's slaves and of his sons are manifest.

89 Mark 10:18.

90 Cf. Heb. 8:3.

91 Cf. I John 2:1.

92 Heb. 4:15.

93 Cf. I Peter 1:3, 23.

94 Rom. 8:15.

95 Rom. 8:14; Gal. 3:26.

96 Ps, 22:22 (Heb. 2:12).

97 Cf. Heb. 2:11.

38 Mark 12:27; Matt. 22:32; Luke 20:38.

99 Cf. Gal. 4:1, 3.

1Cf. Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6, 7.

ORIGEN Prayer for "earthly" and "'heavenly'' blessings 2. Everyone therefore that asks God for "earthly" and "little" things disregards the command to ask for "heavenly"' and "'great'' things from God, who knows not to grant anything

"earthly" or "'little."' If anyone offers as an objection the things pertaining to the body that were bestowed upon the saints as the result of prayer, and also the evangelical saying? which tells us that "earthly" and "'little' things are ''added" to us, the following reply may be made to him. If some one were to give us a bodily object of any kind whatsoever, we should not say that such a one bestowed upon us the shadow of the bodily object. For in giving the bodily object he did not design to give two things, the object and its shadow, but the design of the giver was to give the bodily object: it followed, however, that with the gift of the object we also received its shadow. Similarly, when our understanding has grown in stature and we note which are the gifts which are pre-eminently given us by God, we Shall say that bodily things are the most natural accompaniments of the great and heavenly "spiritual gifts,"3 "given to each" of the saints "'to profit withal,''4 either '"'according to the proportion of faith,''5 or '"'even as" the Giver "'wills.''6

And he wills wisely, even though we cannot assign a cause and reason worthy of the Giver to each of his gifts.

3. The soul of Hannah,' therefore, after casting off a certain sterility, has borne more abundant fruit than did her body when it gave birth to Samuel. Hezekiah has begotten more divine children of the mind than ever were begotten of his body by bodily seed. Esther and Mordecai and the people (of the Jews) were more largely delivered from spiritual plots than they were from Haman and those that conspired [with him. And Judith] has destroyed [rather] the power of "'the prince"? who willed to ruin her soul than of the famous Holofernes. Who would not confess that the spiritual blessing which comes upon all the saints (spoken of by Isaac to Jacob in the words: "May God give thee of the dew of heaven''!°) was bestowed more abundantly upon Ananias and those that were with him than was the material dew which conquered the flame kindled by 2 Matt. 6:33.

3:T Cor. 12:1, 4.

Aol Cor. 1237!

5 Rom. 12:6.

Oi) COR TET Ts 7 This section takes up again the O.T. references of XIII, 2.

8 'The words in square brackets have been supplied to fill up a lacuna in the text.

9 Cf. Mark 3:22; John 12:31; 14:30, 16:11.

10 Gen. 27:28.

ON PRAYER

Nebuchadnezzar? And the mouths of the invisible lions were stopped for the prophet Daniel, so that they could accomplish nothing against his soul, rather than the mouths of the lions perceived by the senses, of whom everyone who reads this book takes note. Does it not follow!! that he who has escaped from the belly of the great fish worsted by Jesus our Saviour, which swallows every fugitive from God, becomes a Jonah capable as a saint of receiving the Holy Spirit?

XVII, 1. It is not to be wondered at if to all alike who receive, so to speak, the bodies that cause such shadows, a shadow like to it is not given, and to some no shadow is given at all.!2

Students of the problems connected with sun-dials and with the relation of the shadow to the luminous body are clearly aware of what happens according to latitude.13 For example, in some latitudes the gnomons give no shadow at a certain season, in others the shadow is short, so to speak, and in others again longer than in others. It is not strange, then, if the design of him who bestows pre-eminent gifts grants them in accordance with certain ineffable, mystic analogies to suit the recipients and the times when these pre-eminent gifts are made; sometimes no shadows at all follow for the recipients, sometimes there are shadows not of all the gifts, but of a few, sometimes they are smaller in comparison with the rest, sometimes larger accompany others. If a man who seeks the rays of the sun has this indispensable thing, he is neither rejoiced nor grieved by the presence or absence of bodily shadows, when having been enlightened he is either deprived of the shadow or has more or less of the shadow. So also, if spiritual things are present to us and we are being enlightened by God in the complete possession of what is truly good, we shall not waste words about the paltry thing which is the shadow. For all material and bodily things, of whatever kind they may be, have the value of an unsubstantial and feeble shadow, and can in no way be compared with the saving and holy gifts of the God of the universe. What sort of comparison can there be between bodily riches and the riches "'in all utterance and in all''!14 wisdom? Who that is not a madman would compare health of flesh and bones with a healthy mind and a robust soul and a balanced reason? When all these are duly ordered by a God-given reason, they cause bodily sufferings to become a trifling scratch, so to speak, and indeed, in my opinion, less than a scratch.

11 See note.

12 So Bentley emends.

13 Reading xAiuara for owpara.

14 T Cor, 1:5.

A.c.— 18

274.

ORIGEN 2. He who has perceived what the beauty of the Bride is, whom the Bridegroom,!5 who is the Word of God, loves in the full bloom of the super-celestial and super-mundane beauty of the soul, will be ashamed to honour even with the same name of beauty the bodily beauty of woman or boy or man. Flesh does not contain beauty in the true sense of the word, seeing that all of it is shameful. For '"'all flesh is" as "'grass,"" and the "'glory"' of it, which appears in the so-called beauty of women and children, has been compared, according to the word of the prophet, to a "'flower," as follows: "'All flesh is' as "grass, and all the glory of it is as the flower of grass: the grass withereth, and the flower falleth away: but the word of the Lord remaineth for ever.''!6 Again, who would properly continue to use the term ''noble birth" as it is commonly employed by men, once he has perceived the noble birth of the sons of God? When the mind has contemplated ''a kingdom" of Christ "that cannot be shaken,''!7 it cannot but despise as of no worth or account every kingdom upon earth. When a man sees as clearly as he can (in so far as the human mind still imprisoned in the body is capable) the "'host''!8 of angels and the '"'commanders" among them "of the powers of the Lord,''!9 and archangels and "thrones" and "dominions" and "principalities" and "'powers,''2° and when he comprehends that he can attain to equal honour with them?! from the Father, it must needs follow that, even though he be feebler than a shadow, he will despise by comparison as utterly mean and of no account the things that foolish men set great store by, and, should he be offered all these things, he will disdain them, so that he may not fail to attain unto the true principalities and diviner powers. We must pray, therefore, we must pray concerning the pre-eminently and truly great and heavenly blessings; and as concerning the shadows that accompany these pre-eminent blessings we must commit this matter to God, who 'knows before' we "'ask him what things" we "'have need of" 22 for the perishable body.

Discussion of The Lord's Prayer CuHapTers XVIII tro XXX XVIII, 1. Enough has been said by us in the foregoing examination of the problem of prayer, ''according to the grace

15 Cf. John 3:29.

16 Isa. 40:6-8.

17 Heb. 12:28, 18 Luke 2:13.

| 19 Josh. 5:14.

20 Col. 1:16.

21 Luke 20:36.

22 Matt. 6:8.

ON PRAYER

given,' as we were able to receive it, by "'God''23 through his Christ (and we trust also, in the Holy Spirit—which, if it be so, you who read this book will judge). Now we shall proceed to the next task: for we desire to consider the prayer outlined by the Lord, with what power it has been filled.

The texts of the Lord's Prayer (Chapter XVIII, 2, 3) 2. And first of all we must note that Matthew and Luke might seem to most people to have recorded the same prayer, providing a pattern of how we ought to pray. But the text of Matthew runs as follows: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one."'24 Luke's text, on the other hand, runs thus: "'Father, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Give us day by day our daily bread.

And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And bring us not into temptation.''?5

3. But we must reply to those who take this view, in the first place, that the words, although they have some resemblances, nevertheless appear to differ in other points, as our investigation of them will establish; and, in the second place, that it cannot be the same prayer which was spoken on "the mountain," to which "seeing the multitudes he went up," when, "having sat down, his disciples came unto him, and he opened his mouth and taught them''2° (for this prayer is found recorded in Matthew in the context of the recital of the Beatitudes and the commandments which follow), and that which, '"'as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased," was spoken to "one of his disciples," who had asked to be "taught to pray, even as John also taught his disciples.''27 For how can it be possible that the same words were spoken by themselves apart from any previous inquiry and also delivered at the request of a disciple? Perhaps, however, someone will say to this that the prayers are virtually the same and were spoken as one prayer, on one occasion in an extended address, and on another to one of the disciples who had made the request, probably because he was not present when the prayer recorded in Matthew was spoken, or because he had not retained what was said. Perhaps, however, it is better to take the view that the prayers are different, though

23 I Cor. 3:10.

24 Matt. 6:9-13.

— 25 Luke 1172-4.

26 Matt. 5:1, 2.

27 Luke 11:1.

ORIGEN they have some parts common. We searched also the Gospel of Mark, in case the record of something equivalent there should escape us, but we found no trace whatever of the prayer in it.

The Introduction to the Prayer in Matthew (Chapters XIX to XXI) XIX, 1. Since, as we said above,?8 he who prays must first be settled and disposed in a certain manner and then afterwards so pray, let us consider the words that were uttered by the Saviour on this subject before the prayer as it is given in Matthew. They are as follows: '"When ye pray, ye shall not be as the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have received their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father which 1s in secret, and thy Father which seeth in secret shall recompense thee. And in praying use not vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. After this manner therefore pray ye.''29

2. Our Saviour in many places clearly ranks vainglory as a deadly passion: as he has done also here, when he deters us from acting at the time of prayer as hypocrites do. For it is to act the hypocrite to wish to pride oneself before men for piety or liberality. Those who remember the saying, ""How can ye believe, which receive glory of" men, "and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?''3° must despise all glory from men, even though it be reckoned to have been given for a good cause, and must seek the true glory that is properly so-called, which comes from him alone who glorifies him who is worthy of glory in a manner fitting to himself and beyond the deserts of the recipient of glory. And that which would be reckoned as good in itself, and is reckoned to be praiseworthy, is sullied when we do it that we "may have glory of men,''3! or ''that"' we

"may be seen of men''3?: therefore no recompense from God follows us for this. For every word of Jesus is true33; and, if one may use a forced expression, is truer, when it is spoken with his accustomed oath. He says of those who for the sake of vainglory seem to do good to their neighbour or "'pray in the synagogues and the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men,"' the same thing: '"'Verily I say unto you, They have received

28 VIII, 2-X, 2,

29 Matt. 6:5-9.

John 5:44.

31 Matt. 6:2.

32 Matt. ay 33 eels

ON PRAYER

their reward.''34 The "rich man,"' of whom Luke speaks, received as his reward '"'the good things in"'35 his own mortal life, and because he had received these he was no longer able to obtain them after this present life. Similarly, he who "has received" his own "reward,''36 either for giving something to someone or for his prayers, inasmuch as he did not "sow unto the Spirit," but "'unto the flesh, shall reap corruption,'' but shall' not "reap eternal life.'37 Now that man "sows unto the flesh'? who "'in the synagogues and the streets, that he may have glory of men, doeth alms" with "'a trumpet before'' him,

or he who "loves to stand and pray in the synagogues and corners of the streets, that'' he "may be seen of men''39 and be reckoned as pious and holy by those who see him.

3. Moreover, everyone who travels along "the wide and broad way that leadeth to destruction,''4° which has nothing clear or straight but is altogether full of twists and corners (for its straightness has been very much broken into curves), stands in it not otherwise than he*! who "prays in the corners of the streets,'42 through love of pleasure frequenting not one but several streets, where are to be found those who are "'dying like men''43 because they have fallen from their deity: who praise and count happy those in the streets who are wont to commit iniquity in their company. And at all times there are many who in their praying are manifestly "lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,''44 in the midst of banquets and at carousals behaving drunkenly in prayer, truly "'standing in the corners of the streets' and "praying.''45 For everyone who lives according to pleasure, having loved "the broad'' path, has fallen from "the narrow and straitened way''4 of Jesus Christ—a way with not the slightest bend and absolutely no corners at all.

XX, 1. If there is a difference between the Church and the synagogue (the Church properly so called "'not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing," but "being holy and without blemish'"'47; into which neither he that is "born of fornication entereth," nor the "eunuch," nor an "'emasculated''4® person, nor yet ''an Egyptian"' or '"'an Idumaean," save that '"'sons born to them" of "the third generation"? may scarcely join "the 34 Matt. 6:2, 5.

35 Luke 16:19, 25.

36 Matt. 6:2, 5.

37 Gal. 6:8.

38 Matt. 6:2.

39 Matt. 6:5.

40 Matt. 7:13.

41 See note.

42 Matt. 6:5.

43 Ps. 82:7.

44 II Tim. 3:4.

45 Matt. 6:5.

46 Matt. 7:13, 14.

47 Eph. 5:27.

48 Deut. 23:1, 2.

ORIGEN assembly,' 49 nor yet the ""Moabite" or "Ammonite,"' unless the tenth '"'generation"' is fulfilled and "the age"' is accomplished; the synagogue, on the other hand, being "built" by "a centurion,"' who did this in the times before the sojourn with us of Jesus, when as yet witness had not been borne to him that he had such "'faith" as the Son of God "found not in Israel''51), he who "'loves to pray in the synagogues"' is not far from "the corners of the streets.''52 But the saint is not such a one: for he does not "'love [dtAez] to pray," but rather has a deep concern [ayaa] to do so, and not "in synagogues," but in churches, and not "in corners of streets,' but in the straightness of ''the narrow and straitened way''53; nor yet again that he

"may be seen of men,''54 but that he "may appear before the Lord God.''55 For he is a male person, perceiving "'the acceptable year of the Lord,''5* and keeping the commandment which says: ""Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God.''55

2. We must pay careful attention to "they may be seen,''54 since "nothing that is seen is good,''57 being in appearance, as it were, and not truly, deceiving the imagination and not forming a distinct or true image. The actors of a drama in the theatre are not what they say they are or what they appear to be in accordance with the character they assume. Similarly, those who simulate in appearance an impression of the good are not righteous but are actors of righteousness, and are themselves acting in their own theatre, "the synagogues and the corners of the streets.''52 But he who is not an actor, and on the contrary puts aside everything that is not his own, and prepares to delight himself in a place that is greater and far surpasses any of the theatres mentioned above, "enters into" his own "inner chamber, shutting''5' himself in upon the riches laid up in store, °° "'the treasure of wisdom and knowledge.' ®° And never bending outside nor gaping at the things outside, he "'shuts"' every '"'door" of the faculties of sense, so that he may not be enticed by the impressions of sense and their image may not penetrate into his mind. Thus he prays to the Father, who does not flee from or abandon such a secret place,

®! but rather "'dwells'' 62 in it, his only begotten® being also present with him. For, says

49 Deut. 23:7, 8.

50 Deut. 23:3.

51 Luke 7:2, 5, 9.

52 Matt. 6:5.

53 Matt. 7:14.

54 Matt. 6:5.

55 Deut. 16:16, 56 Isa. 61:2 (Luke 4:19). 57 Ignatius, Romans, 3.

58 Matt. 6:6.

59 Cf. I Tim. 6:18, 19.

6 Col. 2:3.

61 Cf, Matt. 6:6, 62 Eph. 3:17.

63 John 1:14, etc.

ON PRAYER

he, "I and the Father®¢ will come unto him and make our abode with him.''®5 It is evident that if indeed we pray thus, we shall make intercession not only with the righteous God but also with the Father, as One who is not absent from his sons but is present in our secret place, and watches over it, and increases what is in "the inner chamber," if we "'shut the door''®* of it.

XXI, 1. In praying, however, do "not" let "us use vain repetitions,' °® but rather let us speak to God. Now we "'use vain repetitions" when we fail to examine for blemishes either ourselves or the words of prayer we offer up, and so speak of corrupt deeds or words or thoughts, which are mean and blameworthy and alien from the incorruptibility of the Lord. Indeed, he who "'uses vain repetitions" in "'praying"' is actually in a worse case than those who frequent "'the synagogues,"' of whom we spoke above, and in a more grievous condition than they who stand "in the corners of the streets,''®' since he does not preserve a trace of even a pretence of good. According to the text of the Gospel, they who alone "use vain repetitions" are "the Gentiles,' who have no notion whatever of great arid heavenly requests, but offer up every prayer for bodily and outward things. Therefore he who requests things of below from him who dwells in the heaven and above the highest heaven, even the Lord, is like unto a "'Gentile using vain repetitions."

2. It seems indeed that he who speaks much '"'uses vain repetitions," and he who "'uses vain repetitions'? speaks much.

For no material or bodily thing is single: but every one of them, though reckoned single, is split up and cut in pieces and divided into several parts, having lost its unity. Virtue is one, vice is many; truth is one, falsehood is many; the wisdom of God is one, the wisdoms "'of this world,' and "'of the rulers of this world, which are coming to nought," © are many; the word of God is one, those who are estranged from God are many. Therefore no one "shall escape transgression for much speaking,"'7° and no one, though "'thinking"' that he "'shall be heard for'' his

"much speaking," can be heard thereby. And so our prayers must not '"'be like unto" the "vain repetitions" or "much speaking"' of "the Gentiles,''7! or to whatever else they may do

"'after the likeness of the serpent.''72 '"'For" the God of the saints, being a "'Father, knoweth what things" his sons "have

64 John 10:30.

65 John 14:23.

65a Matt. 6:6.

66 Matt. 6:7.

67 Adopting an emended text (Matt. 6:5).

68 Matt. 6:7.

69 I Cor, 2:6, 70 Prov. 10:19.

71 Matt. 6:7, 8.

72 Ps. 57:5 (LXX).

ORIGEN need of,''73 since they are things worthy of the Father's knowledge. But if a man knows not God, and knows not the things of God, he knows not ''what things" he "'has need of": for the things which he thinks he "'has need of" are entirely wrong. On the other hand, he who contemplates what higher and holier things he lacks, will attain to the objects of his contemplation, which are known by God and have been known to the Father or ever the request was made. Having said so much on the passage which precedes the prayer in the Gospel according to Matthew, let us now go on to see the meaning of the prayer itself.

OUR FATHER WHICH ART IN HEAVEN

(Chapters XXII and XXIII) XXII, 1. Our Father which art in heaven.74 It is worth while examining with unusual care the Old Testament, as it is called, to see if it is possible to find anywhere in it a prayer in which someone calls God ''Father." 'Though we searched to the best of our ability, up to the present we have found none. We do not mean that God is never called "'Father,"' or that those who were wont to believe in God are never styled "'sons of God," but that we have not yet succeeded in finding in a prayer that confident affirmation in styling God as "Father"? which was made by the Saviour. That God is called "'Father,'"? and that those who have drawn nigh to the word of God are called "'sons,'? may be seen from many passages, as for example in Deuteronomy: 'Thou hast forsaken the God who begat thee, And hast forgotten the God who nurtureth thee''75; and again: "Is not he thy Father that hath bought thee, and hath made thee and established thee?''?76; and again: "'Sons in whom is no faith''77; and in Isaiah: "I have begotten and brought up sons, but they have rejected me''78; and in Malachi: "'A son will honour his father, and a servant his master: and if I am a father, where is mine honour? and if I am a master, where is my fear?''79

2. Therefore, even though God is spoken of as "'Father,"' and those begotten by the word of faith in him as "'sons,"' it is not possible to find in the ancients at any rate a firm and unchangeable affirmation of sonship. For example, the passages we have quoted show that those called "'sons'' are blameworthy: since, according to the apostle, while ''the heir is a child, he differeth

73 Matt. 6:8.

74.Matt. 6:9.

75 Deut. 32:18.

76 Deut. 23:6.

77 Deut. 32:20.

78 Isa, 1:2.

79 Mal. 1:6.

ON PRAYER

nothing from a bond-servant, though he is lord of all; but is under guardians and stewards until the term appointed of the father''8°; but "'the fulness of the time'''! arrived

82 at the sojourn of our Lord Jesus Christ, when those who desire it "receive the adoption of sons,''83 as Paul teaches in the following words: "For ye received not the spirit of bondage unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba,

Father."'84 And in the Gospel according to John: "But as many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believed on his name.''®5 And because of this "spirit of adoption,"' we learn in the general Epistle of John as concerning those "'who are begotten of God"' that "'whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.''86

3. Nevertheless, if we consider the meaning of the words '"When ye pray, say, Father,''87 as it is written in Luke, we shall hesitate if we are not true sons to address him by this title, lest perchance in addition to our sins we should incur the charge of impiety also. What I mean is something like this. Paul says in his former [epistle] to the Corinthians, "'No man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit''; and "'no man speaking in the Spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema."'88 He uses ''Holy Spirit"' and "Spirit of God"' as synonymous terms. But what the meaning is of "'saying in the Holy Spirit Jesus is Lord' is by no means clear, for countless hypocrites and numbers of heretics use this title, and sometimes even demons when they are overcome by the power that is in the Name. No one will dare to maintain that any of these "says Jesus is Lord in the Holy Spirit." Nor could they even be shown to say ''Jesus is Lord," since those only from the heart say, "Jesus is Lord,' who while serving the word of God and while engaged in doing anything whatsoever call none other ''Lord"' save him. If it be such that say, "'Jesus is Lord," it may be that everyone who anathematizes the divine

Word in transgressing by his own actions cries out: "'Jesus is anathema." Therefore, just as such a one says, ""Jesus is Lord," and he of an opposite mind, "'Jesus is anathema," so also,

"'whosoever is begotten of God" and "'doeth no sin," through partaking of the "'seed''8 of God, which turns him aside from every sin, says by his deeds: "Our Father which artin heaven,"' 9°

80 Gal. 4:1, 2.

81 Gal. 4:4.

82 Reading évéorn.

83 Gal. 4:5.

84 Rom. 8:15.

85 John 1:12.

86 T John 3:9.

87 Luke 11:2.

88 I Cor. 12:3.

89 IT John 3:9.

90 Matt. 6:9.

ORIGEN "the Spirit himself bearing witness with" their spirit, "that" they "'are children of God," and his "heirs," and "'joint-heirs with Christ," since suffering "'with him" they have good hope to ''be also glorified with him."'! And in order that such may not only half say, ""Our Father,"

9! "the heart"' also, which is the fountain and source of good works, in conjunction with the works ''believeth unto righteousness," and in harmony with them ''the mouth maketh confession unto salvation."' 92

4. Every deed and word and thought of theirs, having been formed by ''the only begotten Word''93 after his likeness, imitates "'the image of the invisible God,'

94 and is "after the image of the Creator,'95 who "maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust," 9° so that there is in them "'the image of the heavenly,''97? who 1s himself "the image of God." 94 The saints, therefore, being "'an image" of an image (that image being the Son), acquire an impression of 98 sonship, becoming "conformed"' not only "'to the body of the glory' °? of Christ, but also to him! who is "'in the body."'? They become conformed to him who is in "the body of the glory," 9° as they are "transformed by the renewing of the mind.''3 If such persons in everything say, "Our Father which art in heaven,''4 evidently "'he that doeth sin," as John says in his general [epistle], "is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning."'5 And as the "'seed"' of God, "'remaining in him that is begotten of God,''® becomes for him who has been conformed?' to "'the only begotten Word'' 3 the cause that "'he cannot sin,''® so in everyone "'that doeth sin"' the seed of "'the devil''5 is present, and, so long as it is inherent in the soul, prevents him who has it from being able to perform right actions.

But since "'to this end was the Son of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil," it is possible, by the dwelling in our soul of the Word of God, when "the works of the devil' have been "'destroyed,''® for the evil seed implanted in us to be done away with, and for us "'to become children of God."'9

5. Do not let us think that we are taught to say actual words at a certain fixed time of prayer. If we understand what has

91 Rom. 8: 16, 17.

91a Matt. 6:9.

92 Rom. 10:10.

93 John 1:14, 18.

94 Col. 1:15.

95 Col. 3:10.

96 Matt. 5:45.

97 I Cor. 15:49.

98 See note.

99 Phil. 3:21.

1 Reading 7@ évrt.

2 Cf. II Cor. 12:2, 3.

3 Rom. 12:2.

4 Matt. 6:9.

5 1 John 3:8.

6 I John 3:9.

7 Cf. Gal. 4:19.

8 I John 3:8.

9 John 1:12.

ON PRAYER

been said above!® in our discussion about "'praying without ceasing,' !! our whole life as we "'pray without ceasing"' shall say, "Our Father which art in heaven'"'!?: its "'citizenship"' shall in no wise be on earth but in every way "in heaven,''!3 which is the '"'throne''!4 of God; for the kingdom of heaven is seated in all those who "bear the image of the heavenly,"'!5 and therefore are themselves heavenly.

XXIII, 1. But when "the Father" of the saints is said to be "in heaven," we are not to suppose that he is circumscribed in bodily fashion and dwells "in heaven''!2; otherwise, if the heaven contained him, God would be found less than, because contained by, the heaven: but we must believe that by the ineffable power of his Godhead all things are contained and held together by him. And, speaking generally, sayings which taken literally are supposed by simple folk to assert that God is in a place, must instead be understood in a manner that befit grand and spiritual conceptions of God. Such are the following in the [Gospel] according to John: "'Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end''!*; and, a little further on, "knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from God, and goeth unto God''!7; and later on, '""Ye heard how I said to you,

I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father''!8; and again, later on,

'But now I go unto him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, whither goest thou?''!9 If these words are to be taken in a local sense, it is obvious that we must do the same with: "'Jesus answered and said unto them, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.''?0

2. These sayings do not conceive of a local departure of the Father and the Son to him who loves the word of Jesus, nor are they to be taken in a local sense. But the Word of God, condescending for our sakes and being "'humbled,''?! as concerning his own dignity, when he is among men, is said to '"'depart out of this world to the Father,''22 in order that we also may behold

10 Ch. XII.

11 [ Thess. 5:17.

12 Matt. 6:9.

13 Phil. 3:20.

14 Cf. Isa. 66:1.

15 IT Cor. 15:49.

16 John 13:1.

17 John 13:3.

18 John 14:28.

19 John 16:5.

20 John 14:23.

21 Phil. 2:8.

22 John 13:1.

284.

ORIGEN . him there in his perfection, returning again to his own "'fulness,"'?3 after the emptiness wherewith he "emptied himself"? 24 when he was with us: where also we, using him as our guide, being ''made full,''25 shall be delivered from all emptiness. Let the Word of God, therefore, depart to "'him that sent him,''2¢ quitting the world, and let him "go unto the Father."27 And as for that passage at the end of the Gospel according to John,

"Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father,"

let us seek to conceive of it in a mystical sense: the ascent of the Son "unto the Father,''2? when conceived of by us with holy insight in a manner befitting Deity, is an ascent of the mind rather than of the body.

3. I think it necessary? to consider carefully these sayings in connection with the words "Our Father which art in heaven,''3° in order to remove a mean conception of God held by those who consider that he is locally "'in heaven," and to prevent anyone from saying that God is in a place after the manner of a body

(from which it follows that he is a body)—a tenet which leads to most impious opinions, namely, to suppose that he is divisible, material, corruptible. For every body is divisible, material, corruptible. Else, let them tell us that instead of indulging in vain imaginings they claim to conceive clearly how its nature can be other than material. Since, however, before the bodily sojourn of Christ many of the Scriptures}! seem to say that God was in a place after a bodily manner, it does not appear to me to be inappropriate to quote a few passages from them also, in order to take away all doubtfulness32 from those whose peculiarity it is, so far as they can, to confine God who is over all in a small and limited space. And, first, in Genesis, Adam and Eve, he says, "'heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the afternoon in the garden: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the face of the Lord God in the midst of the trees of the garden."'33

We shall ask those who are unwilling to enter into the treasures of the passage, and indeed do not even make a beginning by "knocking at'' their "'door,''34 if they can maintain that the Lord

God who "'filleth heaven and earth,''35 who (as they suppose) uses in bodily fashion ''heaven" as his ''throne"' and "'the earth" as ''the footstool of his feet,'?3° is bounded by a place so small in 23 Col. 1:19; 2:9.

24 Phil. 2:7.

25 Col. 2:10.

26 John 16:5.

27 John 14:12, 28.

28 John 20:17, 29 'The text lacks this word.

30 Matt. 6:9.

31 Lit. "'writings,""

32 mepiorrdopov, "distraction."

33 Gen, 3:8.

34 Luke 13:25.

35 Jer. 23:24.

36 Matt. 5:34, 35.

ON PRAYER

comparison with the whole heaven and earth, that what they suppose is a bodily garden is not completely filled by God, but is so much larger than he, that it contains him as he "'walks, a sound"' being heard from the treading of his feet.37 And it is still more absurd, according to them, that Adam and Eve, in awe of God because of their transgression, should hide themselves ''from the presence of the Lord God in the midst of the trees of the garden.''37 For it is not even said that they so wished to hide themselves, but that in very truth "'they were hidden."

And how, according to them, can God ask Adam, saying, "Where art thou?''38

4. We have treated these matters at length in our commentaries on Genesis. However, so that we may not now pass over in complete silence so important a problem, it will be sufficient to call to mind the saying of God in Deuteronomy??:

"TY will dwell in them, and walk in them.''4° His '"'walking"' in the saints is of the same kind as his "'walking'' in the garden, every sinner hiding himself from the presence of God'! and avoiding his visitation and shunning open speech with him. So also "'Cain went out from the presence of God, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.''42 As, therefore, he dwells in the saints, so also in heaven, whether in every saint

"bearing the image of the heavenly,''43 or in Christ, in whom are all the "'lights''44 and "'stars''45 of heaven "'who are being saved,''46 or else he dwells there because of the saints in heaven, in accordance with4'7 the saying: "'Unto thee did I lift up mine eyes, who dwellest in the heaven.''48 And the passage in Ecclesiastes, ""Be not hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven above, and thou upon earth below,''49 makes a deliberate distinction between those who are still in "the body of humiliation,''5° on the one hand, and the angels and holy powers who are uplifted by the aid of the Word,5! or Christ himself, on the other. For it is not inappropriate that he is properly the "'throne"' of the Father, allegorically called heaven, while his Church, given the name of "'earth,"' is "the footstool of his feet.'' 52

37 Gen. 3:8.

38 Gen. 3:9.

39 See note.

40 II Cor. 6:16: cf. Lev. 26:12; Deut. 23:14.

41 Text emended: cf. Gen. 3:8.

42 Gen. 4:16.

43 IT Cor. 15:49.

44 Phil. 2:15.

45 Dan. 12:35 Rev. 1:20.

46 Acts 2:47; I Cor. 1:18; II Cor. 2:15, 47 Text emended.

48 Ps, 123:1.

49 Eccl. 5:2.

50 Phil. 3:21.

51 Adopting an emendation of Koetschau.

52 Matt. 5:34, 35-

ORIGEN 5. So we have added from the Old Testament also a few sayings which are considered to show that God is in a place, in order that we may persuade the reader by every means "'according to the power" given unto "us''53 to understand the divine

Scripture in a loftier and more spiritual sense, whenever it seems to teach that God is in a place. And it was fitting to examine these passages in connection with the words: "Our

Father which art in heaven'54—words which separate the essence of God from all created things. For to those who do not partake [of his essence] there appertains a certain divine glory and power, and—so to speak—an effluence of his deity.>5

HALLOWED BE THY NAME

(Chapter XXIV) XXIV, 1. "Hallowed be thy name."'5* He who prays these words either shows that the object of his prayer has not been achieved, or else having attained it he asks that a result not permanent should be maintained.5? This is evident enough from the passage here, in which according to Matthew and Luke we are commanded to say, "Hallowed be thy name,''5® as if the name of the Father were not yet hallowed. How, someone might say, can a man ask that the name of God be hallowed, as if it had not been hallowed? What is "'the name"' of the Father, and what is its hallowing? Let us consider these questions.

2. A "'name," then, isa compendious appellation manifesting the individual quality of the being named. For example, Paul the apostle has a certain individual quality: a quality of soul, which makes it of a certain kind; a quality of mind, which makes him capable of contemplating certain kinds of things; a quality of body, which makes it of a certain kind. The individuality of these qualities, which is incommunicable to another (for no being is exactly similar to Paul), is indicated by the name '"'Paul."'

But in the case of men, since their individual qualities, as it were, alter, their names also according to Scripture alter suitably; when the quality of Abram changed, he was called

Abraham5'; and when Simon's, he was named Peter59; and when Saul's, the persecutor of Jesus, he was called Paul. In the case of God, however, who is in himself unchangeable, and 53 Eph. 3:20.

54 Matt. 6:9.

55 Cf. Wisdom of Solomon 7:25.

56 Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:2.

57 The text of this passage is uncertain, see note.

58 Gen, 17:5.

59 John 1:42; cf. Mark 3:16.

60 Acts 9:4, 53 13:9.

ON PRAYER

remaining always unalterable, there is always one name, by which, as it were, he is called, the "I am"' spoken of in Exodus, ® or something of similar import. Since, then, we all have some conception of God, and form some notions of whatever kind about him, but not all conceive what he is (for these are few, and, if I may say so, fewer than these few are those who comprehend his holiness in all things), we are rightly taught that the idea within us of God is holy, in order that we may see the holiness of him as he creates, foresees, judges, chooses, forsakes, receives, turns away from, deems worthy of honour, punishes each one according to his deserts.

3. In these and in similar expressions, if I may say so, the individual quality of God is characterized—what in my opinion is called the "name of God"' in the Scriptures: in Exodus, ""Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain''®; in Deuteronomy, "'Let my speech be waited for as the shower; let my words descend as the dew, as the rain upon the young grass and as the copious rain upon the herb®?: for I called upon the name of the Lord''®4; in Psalms, ""They shall remember thy name in all generations."'®5 He who connects the idea of God with things that are not fitting "takes the name of the Lord God in vain," and he who is able to utter speech as the rain, which works together with them that hear for the fruitfulness of their souls, addressing words full of encouragement like dew, and by the power of edification bringing upon the hearers a most profitable shower of words or a most effectual and copious rain, can do these things because of the "'name."' Therefore,®® when a man perceives his need of God the perfecter, he calls by himself upon him who is truly the supplier of the above-mentioned blessings; and everyone who clearly sees also the things of God remembers rather than learns them, even though he may seem to hear them from some one or may think that he discovers the mysteries of godliness.

4. Even as he who prays ought to note what has been said here and ask that "'the name" of God "'be hallowed,"' so also it is said in Psalms, "'Let us exalt his name together,''®' the prophet®? commanding us in full accord with the same mind and the same opinion to haste unto the true and lofty knowledge of the distinctive being of God. For this is to "exalt the name"

61 Ex. 3:14.

62 Ex. 20:7.

63 See note.

64 Deut. 32:2, 3.

65 Ps. 45:17.

66 See note.

67 Ps. 34:3.

68 So Koetschau emends: cf. Acts 2:30, and also IX, 2, above.

ORIGEN of God "'together,'' when a man partaking of an effluence of deity "exalts" © that very power of God of which he has partaken inasmuch as he has been raised up by God and has conquered his foes, who are unable to exult over his fall. This is indicated in the twenty-ninth psalm by the words: "'I will exalt thee, O

Lord, because thou didst raise me up, and not make my foes to rejoice over me."'7° And a man "exalts"? God when he has dedicated for him a house within himself, as the title of the psalm has it: "A Psalm: A Song at the Dedication of the House''; A Psalm of ''David.''7!

5. Further, with regard to "Hallowed be thy name" and the words in the imperative mood that follow, it is to be said that the translators also frequently use the imperative instead of the optative mood, as for example in the Psalms: "Let the deceitful lips be dumb, which speak iniquity against the righteous man,''72 instead of '"'may they be''; and "Let the extortioner seek out all that he hath, Let him have no helper,''73 in the one hundred and eighth, concerning Judas. For the whole psalm is a request concerning Judas, that this and that may happen to him. But Tatian, failing to understand that "let there be'' does not always indicate the optative, but sometimes the imperative, formed a most impious conception concerning him who said, "Let there be light,'"'74 even God, as if he were praying rather than commanding that there should be light: "'since,"' as he expresses his godless thought, ''God was in darkness." To him we must say, how will he take the words: "Let the earth bring forth grass for pasture,''75 and "'Let the water under the heaven be gathered together,' and "Let the waters bring forth creeping things, creatures that have life,''77 and "Let the earth bring forth a living creature''78? Does God really pray that "the water under the heaven" should "'be gathered together into one meeting place" in order that he may stand upon a firm foundation? Or, does he pray "'Let the earth bring forth' in order that he may partake of the things that are brought forth from the earth? What need has he similar to the need for light on the part of creatures in the water and winged creatures or creatures on dry land, that he should also pray concerning these?

But if, according to this author, it would be absurd to pray concerning these—the language used being in the imperative—may

69 Ps. 94:3.

70 Ps, gorr.

71 Ps. 30 (title).

72 Ps, 31:18.

43 Ps. AVOGH Is Be 7 Gen, sine 75 Gen, 1:11.

76 Gen. 1:9.

77 Gen, 1:20.

78 Gen, 1:24.

ON PRAYER

not a like thing be said about the saying "'Let there be light,"' 79 since it is not in the optative but in the imperative? I have thought it necessary, since the prayer is expressed in the imperative, to call to mind his various interpretations for the sake of those who have been deceived into accepting his impious teaching. Once upon a time we ourselves came in contact with these persons.

THY KINGDOM COME

(Chapter XXV) XXV, 1. "Thy kingdom come.''®® If "the kingdom of God," according to the word of our Lord and Saviour, ''cometh not with observation: neither shall they say, Lo, here! or, Lo, there!' but "'the kingdom of God is within us''8! ("for the word is very nigh, in" our "mouth, and in" our "'heart''8?), it is evident that he who prays that "the kingdom" of God should come prays with good reason that the kingdom of God should spring up and bear fruit and be perfected in him. For every saint who takes God as his king and obeys the spiritual laws of God dwells in himself as in a well-ordered city, so to speak. Present with him are the Father and Christ who reigns with the Father in the soul that has been perfected, in accordance with the saying which I mentioned a short time ago: "'we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.''83 (And I think that by God's kingdom is meant the blessed state of the reason and the ordered condition of wise thoughts; while by Christ's kingdom is meant the words that go forth for the salvation of those who hear them and the works of righteousness and the other virtues which are being accomplished: for the Son of God is ""Word''84 and '"'righteousness.''85) But every sinner is under the tyranny of "the prince of this world,''8® since he does not hand himself over to him "who gave himself for' us sinners, "'that he might deliver us out of this present evil world," and "'deliver us out of" it "according to the will of our God and Father,"'8' as is stated in the [Epistle] to the Galatians. He who is under the tyranny of ''the prince of this world''88 through deliberate sin is also ruled over by sin: therefore we are bidden by Paul no longer to submit ourselves to "'sin'' which desires to "'reign'"' over us; and 79 Gen. 1:3.

80 Matt. 6:10; Luke 11:2.

81 Luke 17:20, 21.

82 Deut. 30:14; cf. Rom. 10:8.

83 John 14:23.

84 Cf. John 1:1, 14.

85 I Cor. 1:30.

86 Ignatius, Ephesians, 19.

87 Gal. 1:4.

88 Ignatius, Ephesians, 19.

A.C.——I G9

ORIGEN indeed we are commanded in these words: "Let not sin therefore reign in our mortal body, that we should obey the lusts thereof.' 89

2. But some one will say with regard to these two petitions, that is to say, ""Hallowed be thy name" and "Thy kingdom come,''9° that if he who prays prays in order to be heard, and is in fact at some time heard, it is evident that, in accordance with what has been said above, "'the name' of God will "'be hallowed" at some time for some one, for whom also "the kingdom"' of God will be present. But if these things come about for him, how shall he still fittingly pray concerning things that are present already as if they were not present, saying, ""Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come'? The reply to this must be as follows. He who prays to obtain "the word of knowledge" and "the word of wisdom''9! will always fittingly pray for these things, for he will always go on receiving more and more intuitions of "wisdom" and "'knowledge" as his prayers are continually heard, howbeit he will "know in part" as much as he is able to receive in this present life; but "that which is perfect, doing away that which is in part, shall then be made manifest when, "face to face,"9? the mind without sense perception comes in contact with spiritual realities. Similarly, "'that which is perfect"? in the "hallowing"' of the "name'' of God for each of us and in the coming of his "kingdom" cannot be, unless there "'come"' also "that which is perfect'?93 as concerning

"knowledge" and "'wisdom,''94 and, it may be, the other virtues also. And we go on our journey "unto perfection," 95 if "stretching forward to the things which are before'? we "forget the things which are behind.' As we advance unceasingly "'the kingdom of God"? that is in us97 will reach its highest point, when that which was spoken by the apostle is fulfilled, that Christ, when all enemies "'have been subjected unto him," shall

"deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father, that God may be all in all.''°* Therefore, "praying without ceasing,' with a disposition of the mind that is being deified by the Word, let us say to "our Father which is in heaven, Hallowed be thy name; Thy kingdom come."'!

3. Moreover, concerning "the kingdom" of God this distinc89 Rom. 6:12.

90 Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:2.

91 I Cor. 12:8.

92 I Cor. 13:9, 10, 12, 93 I Cor. 13:10.

94 I Cor. 12:8.

95 Heb. 6:1.

96 Phil. 3:13.

97 Cf. Luke 17:21.

98 I Cor. 15:23-25, 28.

99 I Thess. 5:17.

1 Matt. 6:9, 10.

ON PRAYER

tion must also be made, that, as there is no "fellowship" between "righteousness and iniquity," and no "'communion" between "light and darkness," nor any "concord"? between "Christ and Beliar,"'2 so the kingdom of God cannot co-exist with the kingdom of evil. If therefore it is our will to be under the reign of God, "let not sin" in any wise "reign in'? our

"mortal body,''3 neither let us obey its commandments, when it urges our soul to do "the works of the flesh''4 and things that are alien from God. Rather, "'mortifying the members which are upon the earth,"'> let us bring forth "the fruits of the Spirit,''® so that the ""Lord"' may "'walk in''7 us as in a spiritual

"oarden,''' reigning alone over us with his Christ, "'sitting'' in us "at the right hand of" that spiritual "'power''? which we pray to receive, and seated "'until'' all his '"'enemies'' within us become 'the footstool of"' his "'feet,''!9 and "'all rule and authority and power'"' is "abolished''!! from us. For it is possible that these things should come to pass for each of us, and that the "last enemy" should be '"'abolished, even death,''!2 so that in our case also it may be said by Christ, "'O death, where is thy sting?

O Hades, where is thy victory?''!3 Even now therefore let our "corruptible put on" sanctification in holiness and all purity and "incorruption, and" let "the mortal''!4 clothe itself, when

"death" has been "abolished,"'!2 with the Father's "immortality,''!4 so that we may be reigned over by God and even now share in the good things of "regeneration'!5 and resurrection.

THY WILL BE DONE, AS IN HEAVEN, SO ON EARTH

(Chapter XXVI) XXVI, 1. ""Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth.''!6

Luke passes over these words in silence, and after ""Thy kingdom come" places "'Give us day by day our daily bread."'!7 Therefore let us examine the words cited above, as found in Matthew alone, agreeably with preceding context. Let us who pray, being still ''on earth," and understanding that "'the will' of God is ''done in heaven"' by all those who dwell!® in heaven, pray that "'the will' of God may be "'done"' in all things by us

2 II Cor. 6:14, 15.

3 Rom. 6:12.

4 Gal. 5:19.

5 Col. 3:5.

6 Gal. 5:22.

7 II Cor. 6:16, 8 Cf. Gen. 3:8.

9 Cf. Matt. 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 22:69.

10 Ps, 11071.

11 [ Cor. 15:24.

12 [ Cor. 15:26.

13 T Cor. 15:55.

14 T Cor. 15:53.

15 Cf. Matt. 19:28.

16 Matt. 6:10.

17. Luke 11:2, 3.

18 rots oixetous.

ORIGEN also '"'on earth" even as it is by them: which things will come to ass if we do nothing contrary to his "'will.'' But whenever "'the will'? of God is accomplished by us who are "'on earth as it" in fact is "in heaven,'? we are made like unto those in heaven, inasmuch as we "'bear"' as they do "'the image of the heavenly,"' 19 and shall 'inherit the kingdom" of heaven,2° while those who come after us ''on earth"' will pray to be made like unto us who are "'in heaven."

2. But the words "'as in heaven, so on earth," to be found in Matthew alone, can be taken with all three clauses, with the result that we are commanded thus to say in the prayer: '"'Hallowed be thy name, as in heaven, so on earth; Thy kingdom come, as in heaven, so on earth; Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth." For "'the name"' of God has been "hallowed"' by those ''in heaven,"' and "'the kingdom" of God has come for them, and "'the will' of God has been "'done"' in them: all these things are lacking to us who are "on earth," yet they can become ours as we make ourselves worthy to gain the hearing of God concerning them all.

3. But, with reference to '"Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth,'' some one may ask as follows: How has "the will" of God been "done in heaven," where there are "the spiritual hosts of wickedness,"'2! whence it comes to pass that "'the sword"' of God shall be 'filled with blood"' even ''in heaven''22? If we pray that "'the will' of God be "done on earth as" it is done "in heaven," perhaps we may without knowing it pray that these opposing forces may remain "'on earth," to which they came from "heaven''; for there are many evil things '"'on earth" because of "'the'' victorious "spiritual hosts of wickedness" 2! which are "in the heavenly places." Anyone, however, will easily resolve the question by allegorizing '"'heaven," and saying that it is Christ, and that the Church is "'earth" (for who is so worthy to be "the throne of God'' as Christ? and what is '"'the footstool of his feet''23 equally with the Church?); and that every member of the Church ought to pray that he may so achieve24 "'the"

Father's "will" as Christ achieved24 it, who came to ''do the will" 25 of his Father and ''accomplished"'

254 it in its entirety.

For it 1s possible by being ''joined unto"? him to become "'one spirit''26 with him, in this way achieving?' "'the will," in order that "'as"' it has been accomplished "'in heaven," so it may also

19 T Cor. 15:49.

20 Cf. Matt. 25:34.

21 Eph. 6:12.

22 Isa, 34:5.

23 Matt. 5:34, 35.

24 See note.

25 John 4:34.

25 Cf. John 17:4.

26 I Cor. 6:17.

ON PRAYER

be accomplished ''on earth." For, according to Paul, "'he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit."'26 And I think that this interpretation will not be lightly dismissed by anyone who pays careful attention to it.

4. But an objector to it will quote the saying of the Lord after the resurrection to '"'the eleven disciples," to be found at the close of this Gospel: "'AlIl authority hath been given to me as in heaven so also on earth.''27 For having "authority" over the things "'in heaven," he says that there has been added authority

"on earth," the things in heaven having been formerly enlightened by the Word, but at "'the end of the world''2' the things "'on earth" also will imitate the perfect state of the things

"in heaven" over which the Saviour received '"'authority."'

Therefore, as it were, by means of prayer he wishes to take as his fellow workers before the Father those who are being "'made disciples' by him, in order that he may bring the things ''on earth" (in like manner as the things "in heaven"' which have been subjected to truth and the Word), when they are emended by the "authority," which he received ''as in heaven so'' also

"fon earth,"' to the blessed end that awaits whatsoever has been placed under his authority. But he who maintains that the Saviour is '"'heaven"' and the Church "earth," alleging that "the firstborn of all creation,''2® on whom the Father rests as on a throne, is ""heaven,"' would find that the "man"? whom he put on, when he had fitted him for that power by having "'humbled himself" and "'becoming obedient unto death,''?° said after the resurrection, "'All authority hath been given unto me as in heaven so also on earth,''3! the "'man"' as Saviour having received '"'authority"' over the things "in heaven,"' as things that appertain to "the only begotten,''32 in order that he may share them with him, being mingled with his deity and united with him.

5. It still remains to resolve the second difficulty put forward, namely, how "the will' of God is "in heaven," when there are

"the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places''33 wrestling against those '"'on earth." The question may be resolved in this way. It is not because of place but of choice that he who is still "'on earth" has his "citizenship in heaven,''34

'lays up treasure in heaven,''35 has his heart "'in heaven, bears the image of the heavenly,'3° and "'is"? no longer "'of the 27 Matt. 28:16, 18.

28 Matt. 28:20.

29 Col. 1:15.

30 Phil. 2:8.

31 Matt. 28:18.

32 John 1:14, etc.

33 Eph. 6:12.

34 Phil. 3:20.

35 Matt. 6:20; cf. Luke 12:33.

36 I Cor. 15:49.

204.

ORIGEN earth''37 nor "'of the world''38 below, but of heaven and of the heavenly world that is "'better''39 than this one. Similarly, "'the spiritual hosts of wickedness" that still reside "in the heavenly places,"'3%* having their "'citizenship3% on earth," and, by the evil designs wherewith they wrestle against men, "laying up treasure on earth,''4° "'bearing the image of the earthy,''4 such as he who ''was first formed by the Lord, having been made for the angels to play with,''4! are not heavenly, nor do they dwell

'in heaven" because of their evil disposition. When, therefore, it is said, '""Thy will be done, as in heaven, so on earth,''4? it is not to be reckoned that they are "in heaven,"' since they have fallen in mind with him who "'fell from heaven" after the manner of "'lightning.''43

6. And perhaps when our Saviour says that we ought to pray that "'the will' of the Father be "'done, as in heaven,"' so in like manner "'on earth," he is not in any way bidding prayers to be made for those who are in a place "on earth," in order that they are to be made like unto those who are in a heavenly place; but his command to pray arises from his desire that all the things

"fon earth," that is to say, inferior things, suited to those of the earth, should be made like unto better things, that have their

*'citizenship in heaven,'' 44 that is, to all things that have become "'heaven."' For he who sins, wheresoever he may be, is ''earth,''

and, unless he repent, will be returning somehow to his kindred [earth].46 But "he that doeth the will of God'? and does not disobey the saving spiritual laws is "heaven." If, therefore, we are still "earth"? because of sin, let us pray that the "'will'' of God may extend to us also for our correction, in like manner as it reached those before us who became "heaven" or were

""heaven."' And if we are reckoned by God not as "'earth"' but as already "'heaven,"' let us make our request that the "'will'' of God may be fulfilled "fon earth" (I mean, persons of bad character) in like manner as it is "in heaven," for the heaven-making

(if I may use the expression) of earth, so that there may no longer be any "earth," but all things may become "'heaven."'

For if, according to this interpretation, the ''will" of God is so 'done on earth as in heaven," the earth will not remain earth.

To take a clearer example. If the "'will'' of God were to be 37 John 3:31.

38 John 15:19.

39 Cf. Heb. 11:16.

39a Eph. 6:2.

39b Phil. 3:20.

40 Matt. 6:19.

40a T Cor. 15:49.

41 Job 40:19 (LXX).

42 Matt. 6:10.

43 Luke 10:18.

44 Phil. 3:20.

45 Adopting a conjecture of Bentley.

46 Cf. Gen. 3:19.

47 I John 2:17.

ON PRAYER

'done' for the licentious as it had been "'done'' for the temperate, the licentious will be temperate; or, if the "will"? of God were so to be "'done"' for the unjust as it had been '"'done"' for the just, the unjust will be just. Therefore, if the ''will'' of God is ""done on earth as in heaven," we shall all be "'heaven'': for "the flesh,'' which does "'not profit,''48 '"'and blood,"' which is akin to it, "cannot inherit the kingdom of God,''4? but they would be said to inherit it, were they to change from flesh and earth and dust5° and blood to the heavenly substance.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

(Chapter XXVII) XXVITI, 1. "Give us this day our daily bread,''5! or, as Luke has it, 'Give us day by day our daily bread.''52 Since some suppose that we are told to pray concerning material} bread, it is right to refute here their false opinion and to establish the truth concerning "'the daily bread." We must therefore say this to them. How can he, who tells us that we ought to ask for "heavenly things' and "great things,''54 forget as it were in their case his own teaching and command them to address to the Father an intercession concerning an "earthly" and "small thing," seeing that the bread that is distributed for our flesh is not "heavenly" neither is it a "great"? request to pray concerning it?

2. But we, following him as Teacher, will quote at some length the teaching he gives us concerning bread. He says in the Gospel according to John to them who had "'come to Capernaum"' to "seek"? him55: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw signs, but because ye ate of the loaves, and were filled.''56 For he who "'eats of the loaves'' that were blessed by Jesus, and is filled with them, "'seeks'' rather to comprehend more perfectly57 the Son of God, and hastens unto him. Therefore, well does he command them, saying: "'Work not for the meat which perisheth, but for the meat which abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you."'58 Whereupon, when those who heard him inquired, saying, 'What must we do, that we may work the works of God?

Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, 48 John 6:63.

49 I Cor. 15:50.

50 Cf. Gen. 2:7.

51 Matt. 6:11.

52 Luke 11:3.

53 Lit. "'bodily."

54 See IT, 2.

55 John 6:24.

56 John 6:26.

57 Lit. "exactly," "'accurately."

58 John 6:27.

ORIGEN that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.''59 Now, "God sent his word, and healed them''®® (as it is written in Psalms), that is to say, those who had been sick: they who believe on that Word

'work the works of God," which are "meat abiding unto eternal life.''®! And "'my Father,"' says he, "'giveth you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which cometh down out of heaven, and giveth life unto the world.''®2 Now,

'"'true bread"' is that which nourishes "'the" true "'man,'? who has been "'made in the image of God,"'®} and he who is nourished with it also becomes "after the likeness''°4 of the Creator.

But what is more nourishing to the soul than the Word, and what is more precious to the mind of him who makes room for it than the Wisdom of God? And what is more appropriate to the rational soul than truth?

3. But if anyone offer an objection to this and say that he would not have taught us to ask for "'the daily bread"? as if for some other bread, let such a one observe®> that in the Gospel according to John also he speaks in one place of it as some other than he, and in another place that he himself is the bread; of some other, as follows: ""Moses gave you the bread out of heaven, not the true'"' bread, "but my Father giveth you the true bread out of heaven''®°; of himself, he says to those who "'said"' to him, "Evermore give us this bread, I am the bread of life, he that cometh to me shall not hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.''®7 And a little further on: "I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.'' 68

4. Since every kind of food is called '"'bread"' in Scripture (as is evident from what is written concerning Moses: "He did not eat bread forty days and did not drink water''®), the Word which nourishes is varied and diverse, for not all are able to be nourished by the solidity and vigorous force of the divine teachings. Therefore, desiring to command a disciplined" diet adapted to those who are more perfect, he says, ""The bread which I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."'7! And a little further on: "Except ye eat the flesh of the 59 John 6:28, 29.

60 Ps. 107:20.

61 John 6:28, 27.

62 John 6:32, 33.

63 Gen. 1:26, 27; cf. Col. 3:9, Io.

64 Gen. 1:26.

65 Lit. ''hear."

66 John 6:32.

67 John 6:34, 35.

68 John 6:51.

69 Deut, 9:9.

70 Lit. "'athletic."

71 John 6:51. y , f,

ON PRAYER

Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves.

He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father; so he that eateth me, he also shall live because of me.''72 This is the "true meat, the flesh'' of Christ, which being the '"'Word"' hath

'become flesh,"' as it is said, "'the Word became flesh."'73 When we [ate and74] drank him, "he also dwelt among us."' But whenever he is "'distributed,'74 then is fulfilled: "'we beheld his glory.''73 "This is the bread which came down out of heaven: not as the fathers did eat, and died: he that eateth this bread shall live for ever.''75

5. Paul, speaking to the Corinthians as to "babes'' and "walking after the manner of men,"' says, "'I fed you with milk, not with meat; for ye were not able"' to bear it: "'nay, not even now are ye able; for ye are yet carnal''7®; and in the [Epistle] to the Hebrews: "'And ye are become such as have need of milk, not of solid food. For everyone that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. But solid food is for full-grown men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.''?77 And I think that the words "'One man hath faith to eat all things: but he that is weak eateth herbs''?8 were not said by him principally concerning bodily nourishment, but concerning the words of God that nourish the soul: the most believing and perfect man being able to partake of all things (whom he indicates in the words "'one man hath faith to eat all things''), the weaker and less perfect being content with simpler teachings which do not produce in him full vigour (and this person he means to point out when he says "but he that is weak eateth herbs'').

6. And I think that the saying of Solomon in Proverbs teaches us that he who cannot receive the stronger and more important points of doctrine because of his simplicity (but not, however, holding erroneous opinions), is to be preferred to him who though more skilful and quick-sighted and giving greater thought to things, yet fails to see clearly what concerns the peace and harmony of the whole. His saying is as follows:

72 John 6: 53-57 73 John 1:14.

| 74 Supplied in the text by Koetschau.

74* John 6:11.

75 John 6:58.

76 I Cor. 3:1-3.

77 Heb. 5:12-14.

78 Rom. 14:2.

ORIGEN '"'Better a dinner of herbs where friendship and grace are than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.''79 Certainly, we have often accepted a private and simpler entertainment served witha good conscience, when we were the guests of those who could not offer us more, preferably to high-flown words "'exalted against the knowledge of God,"'8° which with much persuasiveness proclaim a doctrine foreign to the Father of our Lord Jesus who has given "'the law'? and "'the prophets.''8! Therefore, in order that we may not be sick of soul through lack of nourishment, nor "die to''82 God because of "'a famine"' of "'the word of the Lord,''83 let us ask from the Father "the living bread,''84 which is the same as "'the daily''85 [bread], obeying our Saviour as teacher, putting our faith in him, and living more wisely.*¢

The word émovoos 7. We must now consider what is the meaning of "'daily"

(eptouston). And first, it ought to be known that this word epioustos is not employed by any of the Greeks or learned writers, nor is it In common use among ordinary folk; but it seems likely to have been coined by the evangelists. At any rate, Matthew and Luke are agreed about it, both using it with no difference.

The translators of the Hebrew [Scriptures] have done the same kind of thing in other cases. For example, what Greek ever used the words enotizou87 or akoutieis'8 instead of "receive into the ears" or "'shall make to hear' respectively? There is a word similar to epiousion, in the writings of Moses, spoken by God:

'And ye shall be unto me a peculiar [periousios| people." 9° And it seems to me that each of the two words is derived from ousia, the one meaning the bread that comes together into substance, the other indicating the people dwelling around substance and partaking of it.

8. The word "substance" (ousta) in its proper sense is commonly used of incorporeal things by those who maintain that the reality of incorporeal things is primary, such things having stable existence, not admitting of addition nor suffering diminution. (For this is the characteristic of bodies that they are susceptible of increase and wasting because they are in a state of flux and need a sustaining force to come upon them and nourish them: if at a given time they receive more than they lose,

TEP LOV ATS 17

80 II Cor. 10:5.

81 Matt. 5:17.

82 Rom. 14:8.

83 Amos 8:11.

84 John 6:51.

85 Matt. 6:11; Luke 11:3.

86 Seéirepov.

87 Cf. Job 33:1, 313 34:16; 37:14; Isa. 1:2.

88 Ps. 50:10 (LXX): see note.

90 Ex. 19:6, 5.

ON PRAYER

there is an increase; but, if less, a decrease. Sometimes it may happen that because nothing at all comes upon them they are in a state of absolute decrease, so to speak.) But those who hold that the reality of incorporeal things is secondary and that of corporeal things is primary, define substance as follows. Substance is the prime matter of existents, and the source of existents; the matter of bodies, and the source of bodies; of things named, and the source of things named; or it is the first substrate, without quality, or the antecedent of existents; or that which receives all changes or alterations but is itself subject to no alteration according to the proper notion of the term; or else that which persists through all alteration or change. For such people substance is without quality or characteristic form according to the proper notion of the term, and has no determined size, but as a suitable place, so to speak, is inherent in every quality. They formally define as qualities energies and actions in which it has happened that there are movements and stationary conditions; they say that substance according to the proper notion of the term does not partake of any of these, but that it is always inseparable from some one of them, and is none the less affected by and receptive of every expression of activity, according as that acts or changes. For the tension that accompanies substance and permeates it in every part is the cause of every quality and of whatever adaptations of it there may be.

They say that substance is in every part subject to change and divisible, and that any substance may be compounded with any other, and still form a unity. g. Since in our discussion of the word "'substance"' (ousza), necessary because of the terms "'daily (epzoustos) bread" and "peculiar (periousios) people,' we have shown that the different meanings of ousia are to be distinguished, and since in the preceding discussion we saw that the "'bread'' for which we are to ask is "'spiritual'', we must needs form a conception of the ousta which is akin to that of the "bread." The bodily bread which is distributed for the body of him who is nourished thereby passes into his "substance." Similarly, "the living bread" which has

"come down out of heaven,''9! being distributed for the mind and the soul, imparts a share of its peculiar power to him who has willingly accepted the nourishment that comes from it: and thus the bread which we ask for will be epioustos. And again, according to the quality of the food, whether it be "solid" and adapted to athletes, or of a milky or herbal kind, he who is

91 John 6:51.

ORIGEN nourished acquires different forces, so also it follows that, when the word of God is given either as ''milk"' suitably for ""babes," or as ''herbs"' suitably for them that are "'weak,''9? or as "'flesh''93 seasonably for those who are contesting, each of those who are nourished, in proportion as he has offered himself to the word, can accomplish this or that thing, or becomes such or such a person. There is, however, so-called food which is harmful, another kind which produces disease, and yet another which cannot be given at all: and all these may be transferred by analogy to the different kinds of so-called teachings regarded as nourishing. Therefore epiousios bread is that which is best adapted to the reasonable nature and akin to it in its very substance: it provides at once health and vigour and strength to the soul and imparts a share of its own immortality (for the word of God is immortal) to him who eats of it.

10. This epioustos bread seems to me to have been called in Scripture by another name, "the tree of life,"' to which he who "outs forth his hand, and takes"' of it, "shall live for ever.'"94

And by a third name this "'tree"' is called the wisdom of God by Solomon, in these words: ''She is a tree of life to all them that lay hold upon her, and 1s safe for them that stay themselves as upon the Lord.''5 And since the angels also are nourished by the wisdom of God, and from the contemplation of truth and wisdom receive strength to carry out their special tasks, it is said in Psalms that the angels also are nourished, and that the men of God who are called Hebrews share this food with the angels, and so to speak feast together with them. Such a statement is

'""Man did eat angels' food.' Our mind is not so povertystricken as to think that the angels always partake of and are nourished by some such bodily food as we are told came down from heaven upon those who had gone forth out of Egypt,97 or that this was the bread which the Hebrews partook of with the angels, who are the "'ministering spirits'98 of God.

11. As we discuss the epiousios bread and the tree of life and the wisdom of God and the food that men and angels had in common, it is not out of place to pay attention also to the "'three men'' of whom Genesis writes, who turned in and lodged with Abraham and partook of "'three measures of fine flour kneaded"' for the ''making"' of "cakes baked in the ashes."99 Perhaps this is to be taken quite figuratively: for the saints are able to partake

+ Cf. Heb. 5:12-14; Rom. 14:2.

93 John 6:51.

Gen. 2:9; 3:22.

95 Prov. 3:18.

96 Ps, 78:25.

97 Ex, 16:12-16, 98 Heb, 1:14.

99 Gen, 18:2-6.

ON PRAYER

on occasion of spiritual and reasonable food not only in company with men but also with diviner powers, either for their own benefit or in order to display what great nourishment they are able to procure for themselves; and angels are glad and are nourished by such a display, and they become the more ready to co-operate in every way and in the sequel to conspire for further and greater understanding on the part of him who gladdens and, so to speak, nourishes them with the nutriment of teachings formerly prepared.! And it is not to be wondered at if a man feeds angels, for indeed even Christ acknowledges that he ''stands at the door and knocks,"' so that he may "'come in"' to him who has "'opened"' it for him and "'sup with him''2 of the things that he has; afterwards he will share what is his own with him who has first entertained, according to his ability, the Son of God.

12. He who partakes of the epioustos ""bread strengthens" his "heart''3 and becomes a son of God; but he who participates in "the dragon"' is none other than "the Ethiopian'' spiritually, himself changed into a serpent because of the toils of the dragon, 5 so that, even when he says he wishes "'to be baptized,''® he hears the reproach of the Word against him, "Serpents,' offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?''® And David says this concerning the body of the dragon that was feasted upon by the Ethiopians: '"Thou brakest the heads of the dragons upon the water: thou didst smite the head of the dragon in pieces?; thou gavest him to be meat to the peoples, the Ethiopians."'!° And if it is not incongruous, since the Son of God subsists substantially, and the adversary!! also subsists, that either of them should be the food of this or that, why should we hesitate to admit, in the case of all powers greater or inferior and in the case of man, that every one of us can be nourished by them all? For example, when "'Peter'' was about to have fellowship with the "'centurion Cornelius' and those who gathered together with him "in Caesarea," and afterwards to impart of the words of God '"'to the Gentiles also,' he saw the '"'vessel let down by four corners from heaven, in which" were ''all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things and beasts of the earth"';

1 Text emended by Delarue.

2 Rev. 3:20.

3 Ps. 104:15; cf. James 5:8; I Thess. 3:13.

4 Ps. 73:13, 14 (LXX).

5 Cf. Rev. 12:9.

6 Luke 3:7.

7 Matt. 23:33.

8 Matt. 3:7; Luke 3:7.

9 This clause is found in Codex x (LXX).

10 Ps. 73:13, 14 (LXX).

11 Cf, Zech. '3:1.

ORIGEN and when, having been bidden to "'rise'' and "'kill and eat," he excused himself, saying, Thou knowest "that never hath anything common or unclean entered into my mouth," he was commanded ''not to call any man common or unclean," in that what was "'cleansed'' by God ought "'not'' to be "'made common" by Peter. For the saying is: ""What God hath cleansed, make not thou common." Therefore the clean and unclean meats according to the law of Moses, distinguished under the names of several animals, and bearing an analogy to the different characters of creatures of reason, teach us that some are nourishing for us, while others are the opposite, until "God," having "'cleansed''12 them, makes them all nourishing, even those of "every kind.''!3

Today 13. This being so, and there being such a variety of meats, the one that surpasses all that have been named is the epzoustos bread, concerning which we ought to pray that we may be deemed worthy of it, and by feeding on "'God the Word" who was "in the beginning with God''!4 may be deified. But someone will say that epiouszos is formed from epienat,15 so that we are bidden to ask for the bread appropriate to the coming age, in order that God by anticipation may give us it now, with the result that what is to be given tomorrow, so to speak, should be given us "'today," "'today"' signifying the present age, and "'tomorrow' the coming age. But the former interpretation!® being in my judgment the better, let us consider the meaning of the ""today"' as it is found in the passage in Matthew, or the "'day by day" which is written in Luke. It is a frequent custom in the Scriptures to call the whole age "'today,"' as for example in the words: "'He is the father of the Moabites unto this day,"'!7 and 'He is the father of the Ammonites unto this day,''18 and "This saying was spread abroad among the Jews until this day,' !9 and in the Psalms, "Today if ye shall hear his voice harden not your hearts."'20 And in Joshua there is a very clear instance of this manner of speech: "Depart not from the Lord this day.'"'?! And if all this age is "'today," perhaps the past age is "'yesterday."'

This usage occurs in my opinion in Psalms, and in Paul in the 12 Acts 10:1, 9, II-15, 24, 34, 453 11:8, 9.

13 Matt. 13:47.

14 John 1:1.

15 T.e., "'to come close after."

16 J.e., deriving it from ousia.

17 Gen. 19:37.

18 Gen. 19:38.

19 Matt. 28:15.

20 Ps. 95:7, 8.

21 Cf. Josh. 22:16, 18.

ON PRAYER

Epistle to the Hebrews: in Psalms thus, "A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, which is past''2? (this is perhaps the famous period of a thousand years, which is likened to "'yesterday" as distinct from '"'today''); and in the apostle it is written,

"'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yea and for ever."'23 And there is nothing wonderful in the fact that with God the whole age is reckoned as the space of one of our days: and in my view, as even less.

14. And we have to consider if the words written of feasts or solemn assemblies that take place according to ''days'' or "'months"' or '"'seasons"' or "'years''?4 are to be referred to ages.

For if "'the law" has "'a shadow of the things to come,''25 it must needs be that the many sabbaths are a "'shadow"' of so many days and that the new moons come round in intervals of time, being the result of the conjunction of some moon or other with a certain sun. Now if the "first month" and the "tenth" day

"until the fourteenth" and the feast of unleavened bread from "the fourteenth until the one and twentieth'2° contain '"a shadow of things to come,"'25 "'who is wise''2? and so great "a friend'' toward God?8 as to perceive the "'first'' of many months, and the "tenth day" of it, and so forth? What ought I to say of the feast of the ""seven weeks''2° and of "'the seventh month'? 3° (of which the new moon is a day "'of trumpets," but "'on the tenth, a day of atonement''3!)—things known to God alone who has laid down laws concerning them? And who has so entered into "the mind of Christ''32 that he can understand the seven years of the freedom of the Hebrew servants and "the release"' of debts and the relief from tillage of the Holy Land?33 And there is also what is called the Jubile over and above the feast of seven years, 34 but what it is clearly or what are the true laws to be fulfilled in it no one can even so much as imagine, save he who has contemplated the Father's will concerning his ordinances in all the ages in accordance with "'his unsearchable judgments and his ways past finding out.''35

15. I have often found myself at a loss, when I bring together two conflicting apostolic sayings, how it is "'the end of the ages"' in which "'once"' Jesus '"'hath been manifested to put away sins,"

22 Ps. 90:4.

23 Heb. 13:8.

24 Cf. Gal. 4:10.

25 Heb. ro:1.

26 Ex. 12:2, 3, 6,15, 18.

27 Hos. 14:9.

28 Cf. James 2:23.

29 Deut. 16:9.

30 Lev. 16:29 etc.

31 Lev. 23:24, 27.

32 Cf. I Cor. 2:16.

33 Cf, Ex. 21:2; Lev. 25:4—7, 10-17; Deut. 15:1-3.

34 Cf. Lev. 25:8 ff.; 27:17 ff.

35 Rom. 11:33.

304, ORIGEN if there are 'ages to come" which shall be after this one. His sayings are as follows: in the Epistle to the Hebrews, But now

"once at the end of the ages hath he been manifested to put away sins by the sacrifice of himself''3®; and in the Epistle to the Ephesians, '"That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness towards us.''37 If I may offer a conjecture on so great a matter, I think that, as the last month is the end of the year, after which the beginning of another month ensues, so it may be that, since several ages complete as it were a year of ages, the present age is "the end," after which certain "'ages to come" will ensue, of which the age to come is the beginning, and in those coming ages God will "'shew the riches of his grace in kindness'': when the greatest sinner, who has spoken ill of the Holy Spirit38 and is under the power of sin throughout the present age, will, I know not how, be under treatment from beginning to end in the ensuing age that is to come.

16. He therefore who sees these things, and perceives in his mind a week of ages that he may contemplate a holy sabbath rest,39 and a month of ages, that he may see the holy new moon of God, and a year of ages, that he may understand the feasts of the year, when "all the males'? must appear before '"'the Lord

God,"'4° and the years proportioned to so large a number of ages, that he may comprehend the holy seventh year, and the seven weeks of ages, that he may sing the praises of him who has laid down laws so great—such a one will go on to ask, how can he regard lightly the smallest portion of an hour of a day of so great an age, and shall he not rather do everything, in order that after his preparation here he may be found worthy to attain to the epiousios bread in the day that is called "'today," and receive it also "day by day," it now being clear from the foregoing what the "day by day"' is? He who prays "'today" to God who is from infinite to infinite, not only concerning "'today,"' but also in some sort concerning "'day by day,"' will be able to receive from him who can bestow "'exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,''4! even—if I speak in hyperbole—what is beyond "'things which eye saw not" and beyond "'things which ear heard not" and beyond things which "entered not into the heart of man.''42

17. It has seemed to me very necessary to discuss these ques36 Heb. 9:26.

37 Eph. 2:7.

38 Cf. Matt. 12:31.

39 Cf. Heb. 4:9.

40 Deut. 16:16, 41 Eph. 3:20.

42 T Cor, 2:9.

ON PRAYER

tions, in order that a conception may be formed of "'today"' and "day by day,' when we pray that the epiousios bread may be given us from his Father. Nevertheless, if we examine the "'our"' in the latter work43 first, when it is said, not, ''Give us this day our daily bread,'' 44 but, "Give us day by day our daily bread,''45 the question must be examined how this "'bread"' is "'ours."

Certainly the apostle teaches that "whether life, or death, or things present, or things to come, all''4® are the saints'. Concerning which it is not necessary to speak at present.

FORGIVE US OUR DEBTS

(Chapter XXVIII) XXVIII, 1. "And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors''47; or, as Luke, "'And forgive us our sins; for we ourselves also have forgiven4' every one that is indebted to us.''49 Concerning "debts" the apostle also says, "'Render to all their debts, tribute to whom tribute is due; fear to whom fear; custom to whom custom; honour to whom honour; owe no man anything save to love one another.''5° We "owe'' therefore, having certain duties not only in the matter of giving but also in gentle speech and in certain particular actions, and we also

""owe'' it to others to have a certain kind of disposition towards them. "Owing"' these things we either repay them by fulfilling what is commanded by the divine law, or by despising the wholesome word and failing to repay we remain in "debt."

2. A similar thing must be observed in our '"'debts'' to the brethren, that is to say, to those who have been born again with us in Christ according to the word of godliness and share with us fathers and mothers. There is also a "'debt'"' to citizens, and another, common, "debt" to all men, particularly strangers and also those who have attained the age of fathers,5! and still another to certain whom it is reasonable to honour as sons or as brethren. He therefore who omits to pay "'debts" to the brethren remains a '"'debtor'' in respect of what he has not done.

And so, if even we fail in anything that is due from us to men as concerning the spirit of kindly wisdom, our '"'debt'' becomes greater. Moreover, "'we are debtors" in what we owe to ourselves in so using the body that we do not waste its strength

43 T.e., Luke.

44 Matt. 6:11.

45 Luke 11:3.

46 I Cor. 3:22.

47 Matt. 6:12.

48 So the text here: but see XVIII, 2.

49 Luke i 1:4) 50 Rom. 13:7, 8.

51 Reading text as emended by Klostermann.

A.C .=—20

ORIGEN through love of pleasure; and we are debtors to observe this care also for the soul, and to show forethought for the acuteness of the mind, and for the word, that it may be without sting and helpful and in no way "'idle.''52 In fact whenever we fail to pay what is owing to us by ourselves, our debt becomes heavier. g. And above all, since we are the "'workmanship''5? and "thing formed''54 of God that surpasses all else, "'we owe'' it to maintain a certain disposition towards him, and that love which is "'with all the heart, and with all the strength, and with all the mind''55; which things if we do not rightly perform, we remain

"debtors" to God, sinning towards the Lord. And who in that case will pray for us? For "if a man sinning sin against a man, they will even pray for him. But if he sin against the Lord, who will pray for him?''5¢ as Eli says in the first [book] of the Kingdoms. Moreover, since Christ bought us "'with his own blood,''57

'"'we are debtors,'' even as every servant is the "debtor'' of him who bought him for so much a sum of money as was given for him. We also incur a debt to "the Holy Spirit," which is paid when we do not "grieve"? him, "in whom ye were sealed unto the day of redemption,''5* and if we do not "grieve"? him we bear the fruits which are demanded of us, since he is present with us and "quickeneth''5® our soul. And even though we do not know precisely, who is "'the angel'' of each of us who "'beholds the face of the Father in heaven,"'® at any rate it is manifest to each one of us when he reflects upon it that we are

""debtors"' to him also for certain things. And moreover, if we are in "a theatre" of "'the world and angels and men,''®! we ought to know that, as he who is in "a theatre'' is a debtor to say or do such and such things in the sight of the spectators, which if he fails to do he is punished for having insulted the whole "house," so also we "'owe"' to the whole "'world, and to"' all the "angels, and to" the race of "'men"' those things which, if we are willing, we shall learn from wisdom.

4. But apart from these more general considerations, there is a certain "'debt'' due from a widow for whom the Church provides, and another due from a deacon, and another from a presbyter, but the "'debt'? due from a bishop is the heaviest, since it is demanded of him by the Saviour of the whole Church,

52 Matt. 12:36.

53 Eph. 2:10.

54 Rom. 9:20.

55 Cf. Mark 12:30.

56 I Sam. 2:25.

57 Cf. Acts 20:28; Rev. 5:9; I Peter 1:18, 19.

58 Eph. 4:30.

59 John 6:63; cf. II Cor. 3:6.

60 Matt. 18:10.

61 I Cor. 4:9.

ON PRAYER

and retribution follows if it be not paid. Also, the apostle speaks of a certain "debt"? common to husband and wife, saying, ""Let the husband render unto the wife her debt: and likewise the wife unto the husband.''®2 And he goes on to say, ""Defraud ye not one another.''®3 And what need is there for me to speak, when the readers of this book can make up their own reckonings from what has been said previously—which "'debts"' if we fail to pay we shall be kept in prison, or if we pay shall be set free?

Howbeit, in life there is not an hour of the night or the day that we do not "owe'' something.

5. Now, in "owing" a debt either a man pays or else refuses payment. And he can pay during his lifetime, and he can also refuse payment. And some indeed 'owe no man anything''®4; while others pay the greater part and owe a little, and others again pay a little and owe the greater part. And there may be a man who pays up nothing and owes everything. Of course, he who pays all, so as to owe nothing, achieves this result at some time or another, and he needs a period of grace®> concerning his former debts: which grace can reasonably be obtained by a man who has made it his aim to be in the position at a certain date of not owing anything which has not been paid when the debt falls due. But actual transgressions, being engraved upon our reason, become of themselves®® "the written bond against us,''®7 by which we shall be judged, like books testified under the hand of all, so to speak, which shall be brought forward when "'we shall all stand before the judgment-seat''® "'of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.''® As concerning these debts it is also said in Proverbs, "Do not give

_ thyself for security, thou who respectest thy person: for if thou hast not whence to pay, they will take thy bed from under thy ribs."' 70

6. Now, if we "are in debt'"' to so many, assuredly some "'are"' also "'in debt'"' to us. Some "'are in debt"' to us as to men, others as to citizens, others again as to fathers and some as to sons, and, yet again, as wives to husbands or as friends to friends. Whenever, therefore, out of our numerous "debtors"? some show remissness about paying back what is due to us, we shall act with fellow-feeling and not bear malice towards them, remembering

62 I Cor. 7:3.

63 J Cor. 7:5.

64 Rom, 13:8.

65 See note.

66 Reading adrai for adra.

67 Col, 2:14.

68 Rom. 14:10.

69 II Cor. 5:10,

ORIGEN our own debts, how often we have failed to pay them, not only to men but also to God himself. For when we remember those to whom we were in debt yet did not pay, but refused payment as the time went on during which we ought to have done this or that to our neighbour, we shall be gentler towards those who have incurred a debt to us and have not paid what is due: and especially will this be so if we do not forget our transgressions against God and the "'iniquity'' we "'have spoken on high,''7! either in ignorance of the truth or in discontent at the misfortunes which have fallen to our lot.

7. If we are unwilling to be gentler towards those who have incurred a debt with us, we shall suffer what he did who would not concede the "hundred pence"' to his ''fellow-servant.'' 72

This man, who had himself previously received a concession, according to the parable in the Gospel,73 his master reproached,74 and exacted from him what had been previously conceded, saying to him, * "Thou wicked and slothful servant,'75

'shouldest not thou have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee?'7® Cast ye him into prison, 'till he pay all that is due.'''? And then the Lord went on to say, "'So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.''77 Certainly, those who say that they repent of the sins they have committed against us must be forgiven, even though the debtor does this frequently: for "if," he says, "'thy brother sin against thee seven times in a day, and seven times turn, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.''78 It is not we who are harsh towards those who do not repent; rather, such persons are wicked to their own hurt: for "'he that refuseth correction hateth himself.''?79 And even in the case of such persons, every means must be sought to care for him who is so completely perverted that he does not even perceive his own wicked deeds, but is drunk with a drunkenness more deadly than that of wine—that which comes from the darkening power of wickedness.

8. When Luke says, "Forgive us our sins''®° (since the sins arise from our being in debt and not paying), he says the same thing as Matthew; but Luke seems not to give room for him who wishes to forgive repentant debtors only, saying that it has been laid down by the Saviour that we ought in the prayer to add:

71 Ps, 73:8.

72 Matt. 18:28.

73 Matt. 18:23-35.

74 Reading dveiSiaas: see note.

75 Matt. 25:26.

76 Matt. 18:33.

77 Matt. 18:34, 35.

78 Luke 17:3, 4.

79 Prov. 15332.

80 Luke 11:4.

ON PRAYER

"for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.''8° Certainly, we all have power "'to forgive" the sins committed against us: this is clear from the words "for we ourselves also forgive everyone that is indebted to us.''8° But he who is inspired by Jesus, as the apostles were, and can be known "'by the fruits,'8! as one who has received the Holy Spirit and has become "'spiritual''82 by being "led by the Spirit" as a '"'son of God''83 to do everything in accordance with reason—such a one 'forgives'? whatever God forgives and '"'retains''84 such sins as are incurable; and even as the prophets serve God in speaking not the things of their own but of the divine will, so also he serves him who alone "'hath power 'to forgive,''85 even

God. g. In the Gospel according to John the following is said concerning the forgiveness of sins by the apostles: ''Receive ye the Holy Ghost: whose soever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them; whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained.'' 84 If one were to take these words without due consideration, one might lay a charge against the apostles for not "'forgiving"' all, in order that sins might "be forgiven"' to all, but "retaining the sins" of some, so that they are "'retained"' on their account and with God. But it is useful to take an illustration from the Law so as to understand the forgiveness of sins that comes from God to men through men. The priests according to the Law are prohibited in the case of certain sins from offering a sacrifice that the faults may be forgiven those for whom the sacrifices are made. And though the priest has power to offer as concerning certain involuntary or voluntary faults,8° he actually does not offer "burnt offering and sin offering'''7 for adultery or voluntary murder or any other more grievous transgression. In like manner, therefore, the apostles also, and those likened to the apostles, being priests of the "'great high priest,''8 having received knowledge of the healing that comes from God, know, being taught by the Holy Spirit, concerning what sins they ought to offer sacrifices, and when, and in what manner, and they understand concerning what sins they ought not to do this.

Eli the priest, for example, learning that his sons Hophni and Phinehas were sinning, since he was unable to help them to secure forgiveness of their sins, acknowledged in these words the 81 Matt. 7:16, 20.

82 IT Cor. 2:15.

83 Rom. 8:14.

84 John 20:23.

85 Matt. 9:6.

86 Adopting an emendation of Koetschau.

87 Ps. 40:6.

88 Heb. 4:14.

ORIGEN hopelessness of achieving it: ''for if a man sinning sin against a man, they will even pray for him: but if a man sin against the Lord, who will pray for him?''89

10. Certain persons, I know not how, arrogating to themselves powers beyond the priestly office, perhaps because they have no accurate grasp of the knowledge that a priest should possess, boast that they are able to pardon even idolatry and to forgive adultery and fornication, on the ground that by means of the prayer offered for those who have committed these deeds even "'the sin unto death" is absolved. For they do not read the words: '"There is a sin unto death: not concerning this do I say that he should make request.''®° And we must not pass over in silence that bravest of men, Job, who said as he was offering

"sacrifice for'' his ''sons'': "'It may be that my sons have thought evil of God in their mind."'9! For he offered the sacrifice in a case where it was doubtful if sins had been committed, and that too where the sins had not even reached as far as the lips.

BRING US NOT INTO TEMPTATION

(Chapter X XIX) XXIX, 1. "And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.''92 But the words "'But deliver us from the evil one" are not found in Luke.93 It is, I think, a question that deserves discussion (unless the Saviour commands us to pray for the impossible), how we can be bidden, when the whole of men's "'life on earth is a temptation," 94 to pray that we enter

"not into temptation.' For inasmuch as we are on earth '"'compassed about with''5 "'the flesh''96 "that warreth''97 '"'against the Spirit,'

9° "the mind"' of which "'is enmity against God," and "cannot" in any wise "be subject to the law of God," we are "in temptation."

2. That the whole of human "life upon earth"' is ''a temptation" we learn from Job, as follows: "Is not the life of men upon earth a temptation?'

94; and from the seventeenth Psalm the same thing is indicated in the words: "In thee I shall be delivered from temptation." 99 And Paul also writing to the Corinthians says that God grants, not that they should not be

89 T Sam. 2:25.

90 IT John 5:16.

91 Job. 1:5.

92 Matt. 6:13.

93 Luke 11:4.

94 Job. 7:1.

95 Heb. 5:2.

96 Gal. 5:17.

97 Cf. James 4:1; I Peter 2:11.

98 Rom. 8:7.

99°Ps. 17:30 (LAX);

ON PRAYER

tempted but, that they should "not be tempted" beyond their power, saying, "There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape that ye may be able to endure it.''!

For whether "'the wrestling''? is with "'the flesh"' that ''lusteth''96 and "'warreth"'97 "against the Spirit,' °° or with "'the soul of all flesh''3 (which is synonymous with the guiding principle, called the heart, which dwells in the body)—of whatever kind ''the wrestling''4 is for those who are "'tempted"' with ''temptations such as man can bear''5; or whether the contests we undergo are "'against the principalities' and "'the powers'? and ''the world-rulers of this darkness" and "'the spiritual hosts of wickedness' and we are as mightily striding and perfectly trained athletes, no longer '"'wrestling against flesh and blood,''4 nor proved by "temptations such as man can bear''s (for these are already "'trodden under foot'')®: in either case we have not been delivered from temptation.

3. How then does the Saviour bid us pray not to enter "'into temptation," when in some sense God tempts all? For "'remember," says Judith, not only to the elders of that day but also to all those who read her book, "all the things which he did to Abraham, and all the things in which he tempted? Isaac, and all the things which happened to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, when he kept the sheep of Laban his mother's brother.

For the Lord, who scourgeth them who come near unto him to admonish them, doth not take vengeance on us as he tried them in the fire, to search out their hearts.''' And David also shows in a general way concerning all righteous persons when he says,

"Many are the tribulations of the righteous''®; and the apostle in the Acts, ""Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.'

!® 4. And if we do not understand a point which escapes many people in connection with praying not to enter "into temptation,'' now is the time to say that the apostles frequently failed to be heard when they prayed: for they suffered countless trials in their life-time, "in labours more abundantly, in stripes more abundantly, in prisons above measure,!! in deaths oft"; and Paul on his own account "of the Jews five times received forty

1 JI Cor, 10:13.

2 Eph. 6:12.

3 Lev. 17:11.

4 Eph. 6:12.

$I Cor. 10:13.

6 Ps, 91:13, Pe Ve. ctriedi 2 8 Judith 8:26, 27 (with variants).

9 Ps. 34:19.

10 Acts 14:22.

11 The reading also of Codex &.

ORIGEN stripes save one, thrice was" he "'beaten with rods, once was" he ''stoned, thrice'' he "'suffered shipwreck, a night and a day was" he "in the deep,"'!2 a man "pressed on every side"' and "perplexed"? and "'pursued" and "smitten down''!3; and he confesses that "even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place; and we toil, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we intreat.''14 Now if the apostles in praying have failed to be heard, what hope is there for anyone inferior to them of gaining the ear of God to his prayer?

5. The words in the twenty-fifth Psalm, "Examine me, O Lord, and prove!5 me; try as by fire my reins and my heart,''!6 might reasonably be supposed by some one who did not grasp accurately the meaning of the Saviour's command to be opposed to what our Lord taught concerning prayer. But when did anyone think that he was outside the range of "temptations such as man can bear,''!7 in the knowledge that the sum total of them had been completed? What season is there, during which anyone light-heartedly thinks that he has not to struggle to avoid future sin? Is anyone "needy''? Let him take care lest he "'steal'' and "'use profanely the name of the Lord.''18 Is he, on the other hand, rich? Let him not presume. For "'when"' he "'is full,' he may "become a liar," and being lifted up "say, Who seeth me?''19 And certainly Paul, "rich in all utterance and all knowledge,''2° was not delivered from the danger of sinning, through being on that account "exalted overmuch," but he needed "'a thorn of Satan buffeting"' him, "'that'' he "'should not be exalted overmuch."'2! And should anyone be conscious of his own superiority and eagerly expect freedom from ills,22 let him read what is stated in the Second Book of Chronicles concerning

""Hezekiah,"' who is said to have fallen from ''the pride of his heart.''23

6. But if, since we have not said more about the poor man, anyone should presume that there is no temptation attached to poverty, let him know that the plotter plots "to cast down the poor and the needy''?4; and especially since, as Solomon says,

12 TT Cor. 11:23-25.

13 II Cor. 4:8, 9.

14] Cor. 4:11-13.

15 Or "'tempt."

16 Ps. 26:2.

17] Cor. 10:13: for reading, see note.

18 Prov. 24:32 (30:9, R.V.).

19 Prov. 24:32 (30:9, R.V.).

20 I Cor. 1:5.

21 II Cor. 12:7.

22 Following an emendation of Koetschau.

23 II Chron. 32:25, 26.

24 Ps, 37:14.

ON PRAYER

'the poor man submitteth not to threatening." 25 What need is there to speak of those who because of material riches, which they have failed to administer well, have received the place of punishment allotted to the "rich man" in the Gospel,?° and of those who bear their penury ignobly and live in a lower and more servile fashion than is ""becoming"' for "'saints,''27 and so have fallen from the heavenly "'hope''??8 Neither are they who are between these on either side, riches and poverty, entirely freed from sinning because of their moderate possessions.

7. But a man healthy in body and in good condition supposes that he is beyond all temptation because of this very health and good condition. To whom else attaches the sin of "destroying the temple of God,''?° except it be to those who are in good condition and healthy? No one will dare tosay what may be said on this topic because the matter is evident to all. Has a sick man, then, escaped the incitements to "'destroy the temple of God,''3° seeing that he has at that time full opportunity for receiving impure thoughts? What need is there also to speak of the other things that trouble him, unless ''with all watchfulness"' he "keep the heart''?3! For many, when they are overcome by misfortunes and do not know how to bear sicknesses bravely, have as a result of their sickness suffered damage in the soul rather than in the body. And many also in fleeing ignominy have been ashamed to bear nobly the name of Christ, and so have fallen into eternal shame.

8. A man thinks that he may safely rest free from temptation when he has been glorified among men. But how can the saying,

"They have received their reward" from "'men,''32 be anything but a hard one, spoken as it was to those lifted up by the glory bestowed upon them by the multitude as for some good thing?

And how can they fail to be censured by the words: "How can ye believe, which receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?''?33 And what need is there for me to recount the falls through pride of those reckoned highborn, and the fawning submission, due to lack of savoir-faire, towards their supposed superiors on the part of those who are accounted lowborn—a submission which separates from God those who lacking genuine friendship lay pretence to 25 Prov. 13:8.

26 Cf. Luke 16:19, 22-24.

27 Cf. Eph. 5:3.

28 Cf. Col. 1:5.

29 I Cor. 3:17.

30 IT Cor. 3:17.

31 Prov. 4:23.

32 Matt. 6:2.

33 John 5:44.

ORIGEN the most beautiful thing to be found among men, namely, charity? g. "The" whole "life," therefore, "of man upon earth is temptation,'34 as we have said before.3> Accordingly let us pray to be "'delivered''3¢ from temptation, not in the sense of not being tempted (for that is impossible, especially for those

'"'on earth''37) but in the sense of not being overcome when we are tempted. In my opinion, he who is overcome in being tempted 'enters into temptation,'38 being held fast in its meshes. These meshes, because of those who were caught in them aforetime, the Saviour entered: "'Glancing through the meshes,"' as it is said in the Song of Songs, "'he replies'' to those who were caught by them aforetime and who "entered into temptation," and "he says'' to her who is his bride: "Rise up, come, my near one, my fair one, my dove."'39 And I will add the following to show that every time is a time of temptation for men: not even he who "meditates" on "'the law" of God "day and night''4° and exercises himself to fulfil the saying "the mouth of the righteous will meditate wisdom,''4! is delivered from being tempted.

10. What need is there also to speak of those who though giving themselves up to the study of the divine Scriptures have misinterpreted the statements of the Law and the Prophets and have given themselves up to godless and impious, or else to stupid and ridiculous, doctrines; for it would seem that very many who cannot rightly be charged with neglect of these writings have nevertheless fallen into this kind of error? And the same thing has happened to many in the case also of the apostolic and evangelical writings, when in their own folly they invent a Son or a Father other than him whom the saints speak of as God and conceive of in accordance with the truth. For he who fails to think truly concerning God or his Christ has fallen away from "the true God''

42 and his only begotten.43 But him whom his folly has invented, supposing him to be Father and Son, he does not truly worship. This happens to him because he has failed to recognize the "temptation"? that lurks in reading the holy

[Scriptures], neither has he armed himself for a contest which was at that very time upon him, nor stood firm.

11. We ought therefore to pray, not that we may not be 34 Job. 7:1.

35 Section 2, above.

36 Matt. 6:13.

37 Matt. 6:10.

38 Matt. 26:41, etc.

39 Song of Songs 2:9, 10.

40 Ps. 1:2, 41 Prov. 10:31 (for reading, see note).

42 T John 5:20.

43 John 1:14, etc.

ON PRAYER

tempted (for that cannot be), but that we may not be encompassed by temptation, a thing that happens to those who are held fast by it and overcome. Since, then, outside the prayer it is written "not to enter into temptation''44 (the meaning of which is clear enough from what has been said), but in the prayer we are to pray to God the Father "bring us not into temptation''45: it is worth while to see how we may conceive of God leading "into temptation'? him who did not pray or him whose prayer was not heard. For inasmuch as he who is conquered "enters into temptation," it is incongruous to think that God leads anyone "into temptation,"' in the sense of giving him up to be conquered. And the same incongruity remains however we interpret the words: "'pray not to enter into temptation."

For if it is an evil to fall "into temptation''—a thing we pray that we may not suffer—it must needs be absurd to think that the good God, who "cannot bring forth evil fruit,''46 encompasses anyone with evil.

12. In this connection, then, it is useful to quote what is said by Paul in the [Epistle] to the Romans, as follows: "'Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured among themselves.''47 And a little further on: "For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned,''48 and so forth. And again, a little further on: "'And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting.'' 49

All these things, however, must be put to those who divide the Godhead, and it must be said to them, since they suppose that the good Father of our Lord is other than the God of the Law: if the good God leads "'into temptation" him whose prayer is not answered, and if the Father of the Lord gives up "'in the lusts of their hearts" those who had previously sinned "unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured among themselves," and if, as they say, having done with judgment and punishment, he "'gives them up unto vile passions" and "'unto a 44 Luke 22:40 (Matt. 26:41; Mark 14:38).

45 Matt. 6:13; Luke 11:4.

46 Matt. 7:18.

47 Rom, 1:22-24., 48 Rom, 1:26, 27.

49 Rom, 1:28.

ORIGEN reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting,' would not those who were not "given up"' to them by "God"? have been ''in the lusts of their hearts,'' and would not those who were not "'given up" to them by "God" have fallen "into vile passions,' and would not those who came under this condemnation fall "'into a reprobate mind" apart from being "given up"' unto it by ""God''?50

13. I know well that these observations will trouble the persons in question exceedingly, in that they have imagined a God other than the creator of heaven and earth because they find many such things in the Law and the Prophets and have taken offence against him as not good who utters such sentiments.

Confronted, however, with the difficulties arising out of the words: "'Bring us not into temptation," because of which we quoted the text from the apostle, let us now consider if we can find an adequate solution of these contradictions. I verily believe that God orders every rational soul with a view to its eternal life, and that it always maintains its free will, and of its own motion either mounts ever higher and higher until it reaches the pinnacle of virtue, or on the contrary descends through carelessness to this or that excess of wickedness. When a rapid and brief cure causes some to regard lightly, as easily cured, the diseases into which they have fallen, so that after being restored to health they fall the second time into the same condition: in such cases God will with good reason disregard their increasing wickedness to a certain point, and even overlook it when it has developed in them to such an extent as to be incurable, in order that continuance in the evil may cause them to take their fill and be glutted with the sin they desire: thus they may become conscious of their harmful condition and hate what they formerly welcomed, and so when they are healed they can possess more securely the health that comes to their souls by being healed. So it was once upon a time with "the mixed multitude that was among"' the children of Israel. They

"fell a lusting, and the children of Israel also sat down and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish that we did eat in Egypt for nought, and the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: but now our soul is dried away; we have nought save this manna to look to."'51 Then a little further on it is said: ""And Moses heard them weeping throughout their families, every man at his door."'52 And again a little further on the Lord says to Moses:

50 Rom. 1:26, 28.

51 Num. 11:4-6.

52 Num. 11:10.

ON PRAYER

"And thou shalt say unto this people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days,nor ten days, nor twenty days; for a month of days ye shall eat, until it come out at your nostrils; and it be loathsome unto you; because that ye have rejected the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?''53

14. Let us therefore look at this account, to see if it serves you with a useful parallel in resolving the difficulty that lies in the words "Bring us not into temptation" and in the texts from the apostle. ""The mixed multitude that was among"' the children of Israel, having "'fallen a lusting, wept, and the children of Israel''54 with them. And it is clear that so long as they had not the things that they desired, they could not be satiated with them nor cease from their evil state. But the kind and good God, in giving them that which they desired, did not wish so to give it as to leave in them desire. Therefore it says that they did not eat the "flesh one day''55 (for their evil state would have remained in a soul inflamed and set on fire by the meat, if they had partaken of it for only a little while): indeed he did not give them that which they desired for "two days" alone. But in his wish to satiate them with it, he does not give a promise, as it were, but rather threatened with his intended gifts him who is able to understand, saying, Ye shall spend "not five days'' only eating "'the flesh," not even twice that number, nor even twice that number again, but "'ye shall eat'' for so long a time, eating meat for a whole month, until that which ye deemed good, and your blameworthy and shameful desire concerning it, ""come out at your nostrils' with a "loathsome" effect.5° And [this I will do] that ye may have desire no longer when I rid you of life, and thus coming forth, as men purified from desire and remembering through what afflictions you were freed from it, you may be able either to fall into it no more, or else, if this should at any time come to pass, only after a long lapse of time, when you have forgotten what you suffered because of your desire: in which case, if you do not take heed to yourselves and receive the word that rids you perfectly of every kind of mishap, and so fall into evil, and afterwards desire earthly things and again ask to receive for the second time your desires, you may then, having come to hate that which you did desire, be able to retrace the path towards beauty and that heavenly food, which you once despised when you yearned after evil things.

53 Num, 11:18-20.

54 Num.11:4.

55 Num. 11:18, 19, 56 Num. 11:20.

ORIGEN 15. Like sufferings will befall those who having "changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things," are "given up," through abandoning him, "in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured."'57 By giving it to a lifeless and senseless body they have degraded the name of him who has bestowed upon all sensible and rational creatures not only the power of sense but also that of reasonable sense, and, in the case of some also, of perfect and virtuous sense and perception. And with good reason such persons are given up by the God they have abandoned, being in turn abandoned by him, "'unto vile passions, receiving that recompense of error which was due," in the itch of the pleasure they loved.58 For "that recompense of error which is" their "due'' falls to their lot when they are

"given up unto vile passions' rather than when they are purged with the wise fires? or made to pay in "'prison"' every debt up to "the last farthing.''®° For when they are "given up" to "vile passions,'' not only those according to nature but also many of those that are "against nature," they are defiled and made gross by the flesh, so that we might say they no longer possess a soul or mind, but become altogether flesh. But in the fire and the "prison" they do not receive "'the recompense of error," but rather a benefaction to cleanse them from the evils committed in their "error," together with salutary sufferings that follow lovers of pleasure: thus they are delivered from all the filth and blood with which they had been so filthied and defiled that they could not even think about being saved from their own perdition. For God "shall wash away the filth of the sons and the daughters of Sion, and shall purge the blood from the midst of them, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning.''®!

For "he goes forth as the fire of a foundry and as the lye of fullers,"'®2 washing and cleansing them who are in need of such healing remedies, because they did not will determinedly "'to have God in their knowledge."? When they are willingly given over to these remedies they will hate their "reprobate mind.''®3

For God does not wish that good should come to anyone as of necessity, but of free will. Perhaps there are some who from their long association with evil will come to perceive its ugliness

57 Rom. 1:23, 24.

58 Rom. 1:26, 27.

59 dpoviuw wupi: see note.

60 Matt. 5:25, 26.

61 Isa. 4:4, 62 Mal. 3:2

63 Rom. 1:28.

ON PRAYER

with difficulty, and turn away from it as from something that has falsely been supposed to be beautiful.

16. Itis to be noted ifit was for this reason that God "hardens the heart of Pharaoh,''* that he might be able to say what he said when he was not hardened: "'the Lord is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.''*5 But he needed to be hardened still further and still further to suffer certain things, in order that too rapid a cessation of the hardening should not cause him to despise the hardening as an evil, and should not render him many times more worthy to be hardened. If, then, "'not unjustly are the nets spread for birds,''®® as is said in Proverbs, but if on the contrary with good reason God "'brings into the snare,"' according to him who said, ""Thou broughtest us into the snare,''67 and if "'without"' the will of "'the Father'' not even the cheapest of winged creatures, the "'sparrow,''®' falls "into the snare' (for when it falls "into the snare'' it does so for this reason that it did not make good use of the power given by its wings to fly aloft), let us pray that we may never do anything worthy of being "'brought into temptation" by the just judgment of God: for everyone is so brought who is "given up unto vile passions,' and everyone who, "inasmuch as he refused to have

God in himself," is "given up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting.' ® 17. The use of temptation is as follows. What our soul has received is unknown to all save God—is unknown even to ourselves; but it is manifested by means of temptations: so that it may be no longer unknown what kind of persons we are, but rather that we should also know ourselves and be aware, if we will, of our own faults and give thanks for the good results manifested to us of temptations. That temptations, when they come, come to make it plain to us of what sort we are, or to "make known" the hidden things "'in"' our "'heart,''7° is established by the saying of the Lord in Job and what is written in Deuteronomy, as follows: ""Dost thou think that I have answered thee save that thou mayest appear righteous?''7! and in Deuteronomy thus, '"He humbled thee and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna," and led thee in "'the wilderness, wherein were biting serpent and scorpion and thirst," in order that "'the things in thy heart might be made known."

64 Cf. Ex. 9:12, 953 10:1, 20, 273. 11:10.

65 Ex. 9:27.

66 Prov. 1:17.

67 Ps. 66:11, 68 Matt. 10:29.

69 Rom. 1:24, 26, 28.

70 Cf, Deut. 8:2.

71 Job 40:8 (LXX).

72 Deut. 8:3, 15, 2.

ORIGEN 18. And if we wish also to have reminders from history, we should know that the mind of Eve did not become easily persuaded and feeble when she disobeyed God and listened to the serpent: but rather it was proved to be so beforehand, the serpent approaching her for this very reason, that his own insight perceived her weakness.73 Neither did wickedness first arise in Cain when "he slew''74 his brother (for even before that "God which knoweth the heart''75 "Shad not respect unto Cain and to his sacrifices''7°); but his badness came to light when he killed Abel. Again, had not "'Noah drunk of the wine" which he had tilled and "become drunken'"' and had he not "been uncovered," neither, on the one hand, would the hastiness of action of Ham and his impiety towards his father, nor, on the other, the grave and respectful behaviour of his brothers to their parent, have been manifested.77 And the plot of Esau against Jacob seemed to have as its pretext the taking away of 'the blessing''78; but before this his soul had the "roots" of being a "'fornicator'' and "'profane person."'79 And we should not have known the splendour of Joseph's self-control, who was prepared against the assaults of any desire, had not his mistress become enamoured of him.

19. Therefore, in the times between successive temptations, we ought to take a firm stand against what is impending, and prepare ourselves for anything that may possibly happen, so that, whatever it may be, we shall not be proved unready, but shall be made manifest to have disciplined ourselves with the utmost care. For that which is lacking through human weakness, though we do everything within our power, "God will supply,''8! who "'maketh all things to work together for good to them that love" him, "'to them whom according to''8? his infallible foreknowledge he has foreseen what they shall be in themselves.

DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE

(Chapter XXX) XXX, 1. It seems to me that Luke in the words: "Bring us not into temptation'''3 has virtually taught also "'Deliver us from the evil one.''84 Probably to "'the disciple," 85 inasmuch as 73 Cf. Gen. 3:1-5.

74 Gen. 4:8.

75 Acts 15:8.

76 Gen. 4:5.

77 Gen. 9:20-23.

78 Gen. 27:41.

79 Heb. 12:15, 16.

80 Gen. 39:7 ff.

81 Phil. 4:19.

82 Rom. 8:28.

83 Luke 11:4.

84 Matt. 6:13.

85 Luke 11:1.

ON PRAYER

he had already profited, ®° the Lord spoke the more concise saying, but to the many, who were in need of clearer teaching, that which was plainer. But God "delivers us from the evil one," not when the enemy that wrestles against us'7 in no way attacks us by any of his methods whatsoever or by the ministers of his will, but when we conquer bravely, taking a firm stand against circumstances.

It is thus that we understand also the saying:

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, and he delivereth them out of them all."'88 For God "'delivereth"' from '"'afflictions,' not where there are no longer "'afflictions"' (seeing that Paul says, "'afflicted on every side,''89 as never not "'afflicted''), but when "afflicted" by the help of God we are "'not straitened''8?: to be afflicted, according to a customary Hebrew usage, indicates a critical happening which occurs independently of choice, while to be "'straitened"' is a matter of choice, when a man is conquered by affliction and gives in to it.

Therefore Paul well says: "Afflicted on every side, yet not straitened.''89 And I think that the saying in Psalms is similar to this: "In affliction thou didst set me at large.''9° For by the co-operation and presence of the Word of God, who encourages and saves us, the gladness and cheerfulness of our mind that comes to us from God in the season of critical circumstances is termed enlargement.

2. Similarly is to be understood the "deliverance" of anyone "from the evil one."' For God "'delivered"' Job, not by the devil not receiving authority to involve him with this or that temptation (for he did receive it),9! but by the fact that "'in all these happenings Job sinned not before the Lord,''9!*? but was shown to be righteous: He who said: "Doth Job fear God for nought?

Hast thou not fortified what is outside and what is within his house and what is outside all that he hath round about? His works thou hast blessed and his cattle thou hast made abundant upon the earth. But put forth thine hand and touch all that he hath, verily he will curse thee to thy face'? 92—he who said this was put to shame, as having thereby uttered a falsehood against Job: who after so many sufferings does not, as the adversary says, "'curse'' God "'to"' his "'face,'' but even when given up to the tempter continues blessing God, and rebukes his wife when she says: "Speak a word to the Lord, and die,''93 chiding her

86 Sc., by our Lord's teaching.

87 Cf. Eph. 6:11, 12.

88 Ps, 34:19.

89 II Cor. 4:8.

90 Ps, 4:1.

91 Job. 1:12.

914 Cf, Job 1:22

92 Job. 1:9-11.

93 Job 2:9. i

A.CG.-—2 I

ORIGEN and saying, ""Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish women: if we have received good at the hand of the Lord, shall we not endure evil''?94 And the second time also the devil spake concerning Job to the Lord, 'Skin for skin, all that a man hath will he give for his life. Only put forth thine hand and touch his bones and his flesh: verily, he will curse thee to the face.''95

Howbeit, conquered by this champion of virtue, he was shown to be a liar: for though undergoing the most severe sufferin

Job remained "not sinning with his lips before God.''9* And having undergone two wrestlings and conquered, Job did not sustain a third contest of this sort: for it must needs be that the threefold wrestling was reserved for the Saviour, such as is recorded in the three Gospels,®'7 our Saviour as man being seen to have conquered the enemy three times.

3. Having carefully examined these words and given them our personal scrutiny in order that we may intelligently ask God that we "enter not into temptation" 98 and that we be "'delivered from the evil one'' 9° and having become worthy through hearing

God of being heard by him: let us when tempted beseech him that we be not put to death, and when attacked by "the fiery darts of the evil one'! that we be not set on fire by them. All they are set on fire by them whose hearts, according to one of the twelve [prophets], have become "'like an oven."'? But they are not set on fire who with "'the shield of faith quench all the fiery darts'! that are sent against them by "'the evil one''

9; so often as they have within themselves "'rivers of water springing up unto eternal life,''3 which do not allow the dart of the evil one to prevail, but easily bring it to nought by the flood of inspired and saving thoughts, which are stamped by the contemplation of the truth upon the soul of him who trains himself to be spiritual.

Supplement to General Discussion on Prayer

CHAPTERS XXXI To XXXIII

Disposition and Posture in Prayer (Chapter XXXI, 1-3) XXXI, 1. After this it does not seem to me to be out of place, in order to complete our discussion of the problem of prayer, to treat in an elementary manner of the disposition and the posture which he who prays ought to have, and the place, where he

94 Job 2:10.

95 Job 2:4, 5.

96 Job 2:10.

97 Cf. Matt. 4:1-1135 Luke 4:1-13.

98 Matt. 26:41; Mark 14:38; Luke 22:40.

99 Matt. 6:13.

1 Eph. 6:16.

2 Hos. 7:6.

3 John 7:38; 4:14.

ON PRAYER

ought to pray, and the direction in which he ought to look if no obstacle opposes, and the specially suitable time for prayer, and any other similar matters. The matter of disposition is to be referred to the soul, the matter of posture to the body. Thus Paul says, as we mentioned above,' in describing the disposition, that prayer should be made "without wrath and disputing''; in describing the posture, "'lifting up holy hands.''5 This, it seems to me, has been taken from the Psalms, as follows: ""The lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.''® Concerning the place:

"'T_ desire therefore that the men pray in every place.''? Concerning the direction, in the Wisdom of Solomon: "That it might be known that we must rise before the sun to give thee thanks, and must plead with thee before the dawning of the light.''8 - 2. It seems to me therefore that he who is about to come to prayer, if he withdraws and prepares himself for a little while, will be more earnest and attentive in regard to his prayer as a whole. He should put aside every kind of distraction? and disturbance of mind, and recollect as far as possible the greatness of him to whom he comes, and that it is a sacrilege to approach him lightly and carelessly and with a kind of disdain; and he should cast off all alien thoughts. Thus ought he to come to prayer, as it were stretching out the soul before the hands, and directing the mind to God before the eyes; and before he stands raising up from the ground the reason and making it to stand towards the Lord of all. All malice towards anyone who appears to have wronged him he should cast aside in so far as he wishes

God to bear no malice towards himself, since he has injured and sinned against many a neighbour, or else is conscious of deeds of various kinds that he has committed contrary to right reason.

Neither ought he to doubt that, as there are countless attitudes of the body, that attitude in which the hands are stretched out and eyes lifted up is to be preferred to all others, since the body brings to prayer the image, as it were, of the qualities suitable to the soul. We mean, however, that these attitudes should be given preference unless an obstacle opposes. For where there is an obstacle it is permissible on an occasion to pray suitably in a sitting position, on account of a disease of the feet that may not be disregarded, or even lying down, through fever or some such sickness. And also, on account of circumstances, if we are sailing,

4 Chs. II and IX.

5 I Tim. 2:8.

6 Ps, 141:2.

71 Tim. 2:8.

8 Wisdom of Solomon 16:28: see note.

9 Adopting emendation of Bentley.

ORIGEN let us say, or if our business does not allow us to withdraw and offer the prayer that is due, it is permitted to pray without even seeming to do so.

3. And as for kneeling, that it is necessary when one 1s about to accuse oneself of his sins before God, supplicating him for healing therefrom and for forgiveness thereof, it ought to be known that it is a symbol of the man who is abject and submissive. Paul says, "'For this cause

1 bow my knees unto the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.''!° Spiritual kneeling, so named because every creature falls down before God "'in the name of Jesus" and humbles hirnself before him, appears to me to be indicated in the words:

"That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven and things on earth and things under the earth.''!! It is not by any means to be supposed that the bodies of heavenly beings are so fashioned as to possess bodily knees; for it has been shown by those who have treated of these matters carefully that their bodies are spherical.12 He who does not wish to admit this will admit at any rate that each limb has its uses, so that nothing they possess has been fashioned to no purpose by God; unless indeed he shamelessly contradicts reason. Such a one will blunder in either case. Either he will affirm that the limbs of their body have been made by God to no purpose and not for their proper function; or else he will say that even in the case of heavenly bodies the viscera and the "intestinum rectum'' perform their special uses. It would lead to a very absurd conclusion to suppose that these organs had merely a surface like man's, after the manner of a statue, but no longer any depth as well. So much for my examination of the subject of kneeling and my recognition that: "in the name of Jesus every knee"' shall "'bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth.'"'!3 Moreover, what is written in the prophet,

"Unto me every knee shall bow,"'!4 has the same significance.

The Place of Prayer (Chapter XXXI, 4-7) 4. And concerning the place, it should be known that every place is suitable for prayer by him who prays well. For, "In every place offer incense to me, saith the Lord''!5; and "I desire therefore that the men pray in every place.''!¢ But in order that he may perform the act of prayer in quiet without distrac10 Eph, 3:14, 15.

11 Phil. 2:10.

12 See note.

13 Phil. 2:10.

14 Tsa. 45:23.

15 Mal, 1:11.

16 [ Tim. 2:8.

ON PRAYER

tion, each one can select in his own house, if possible, a place set apart, of a sacred character, if I may so express it, and thus pray. In addition to his general inquiry concerning it, he will take care that in this place, where he prays, no crime has at any time been committed or anything done contrary to right reason.

It is as if he had made not only himself but also the place of his prayer such that the visitation of God will not rest upon it. And as I look into this matter still further, concerning the place of prayer, 1 must mention an opinion which may seem rather severe; but which, perhaps, a careful examination will show to be not negligible. It is a question whether it is a holy and pure thing to intercede with God in the place where sexual intercourse occurs—I do not mean unlawful intercourse, but that which 1s allowed by the apostolic word, ""by way of permission, not of commandment."'!7 For if it is not possible to "'give'' oneself "unto prayer' as one ought, "unless'' given over to it ""by consent for a season,''!8 perhaps the same consideration should be applied, if possible, to the place.

5. Lhere is a place of prayer which has charm as well as usefulness, the spot where '"'believers'? come together "in one place,' !9 and, it may be, angelic powers also stand by the gatherings of believers, and the power of the Lord and Saviour himself, and holy spirits as well, those who have fallen asleep before us, as I think, and clearly also those who are still in this life, although "how"? it is not easy to say. As concerning angels, we must reckon the matter in this way. If "'the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and will deliver them''?°; and if Jacob tells the truth not only about himself but also about all who are devoted to God, when he says to him who understands it, '"'the angel who delivers me from all evil,''2! it is probable that, when numbers are come together genuinely for the praise of Christ, each one's "angel"? who is "round about" each of "'them that fear [God] encamps''?° with that man whom he is charged to guard and keep: so that when the saints are gathered together there is a double church, the one of men, the other of angels. And if Raphael says of Tobit by himself, that he had offered up his "'prayer"' for '"'a memorial" and, after him, the prayer of ''Sarah," who later on became his "'daughterin-law' through her marriage to Tobias2?: what is to be said of that occasion when numbers journey together and come together as a body in Christ "in the same mind and in the same

17 I Cor. 7:6.

18 T Cor. 7:5.

19 Cf. Acts 2:1, 44.

20 Ps. 34:7.

21 Gen. 48:16.

22 Tobit 12:12; 3:16, 17.

ORIGEN judgment''?23 As concerning the power of the Lord being present with the Church, Paul says, ""Ye being gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus: the power of the Lord Jesus'24 being associated not only with the Ephesians?5 but also with the Corinthians. And if Paul while still clothed with a body held that it co-operated with his spirit in Corinth,

?°6 we must not give up the belief that so also the blessed ones who have departed come in the spirit more quickly than he who is in the body to the assemblies of the Church. Therefore we must not despise the prayers that are made there, since they have a singular value for him who joins genuinely in common worship.

6. Even as the power of Jesus, the spirit of Paul and of such as he, and "'the angels of the Lord encamping round about''27 each of the saints joins in meeting and assembly with those who are genuinely gathered together, so also, one must venture to conjecture, if there be someone, unworthy of a holy angel, who gives himself up to an angel of the devil28 through his sins and wicked disregard of God, such a one, if there be a few like him, will not for long escape the notice of the angels, who serve the divine will and watch over?9 the Church and they will bring the faults of such a one to the knowledge of the majority. But if such persons are numerous and assemble together after the manner of human associations for the carrying out of worldly business, they will not be watched over.3° This is indicated in Isaiah when the Lord says, "not even if ye come to appear before me''3!; for, he says, "'I will turn away mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear you.''32

For perhaps instead of the aforesaid company of holy men and blessed angels, again a double gathering comes together, of wicked men and bad angels; and of an assembly composed of such it might be said by holy angels and devoted men, "I have not sat with a vain council, and with transgressors I will not enter. I hate the congregation of evil-doers, and with the wicked

I will not sit.''33

7. It is for this reason, I think, that those who in Jerusalem and all Judaea have multiplied sins have become subject to their enemies, because the peoples in abandoning the law have been abandoned by God and the angels who were their shield

23 I Cor. 1:10.

24 T Cor. 5:4.

25 See note.

26 Cf. I Cor. 5:3, 4.

27 Ps. 34:7.

28 Adopting an emendation of the Anonymous, 29 Adopting emendation.

30 T.e., by the good angels.

31 Isa. 1:12.

33 Ps. 26:4, 5.

ON PRAYER

and the holy men who were their saviours. Thus, even whole assemblies were at times left to encounter trials: so that '"'even that which" they "seem to have was taken away from''34 them.

Like "the fig tree'? which had been '"'cursed,'' which was taken away even "from the roots," because it had not given "'fruit"' to Jesus when he was "'hungry,"' so also they were "'withered,"'

losing any little vital power of faith that they had. So much, it seems to me, I must say in discussing the place of prayer and in showing the superiority of the place where the saints meet when they assemble devoutly together in church.

The Superiority of Prayer towards the East (Chapter XXXII) XXXII. A few words also must now be said about the direction towards which he who prays should look. There are four cardinal points, north, south, west, and east. Who would not at once agree that the east clearly shows the direction we ought to face when praying, symbolically of the soul looking to the "rising''3° of "'the true light''?37 But if someone should prefer to offer his intercessions towards the opening of his house, in whatever direction the doors of the dwelling face, on the plea that the heaven-ward aspect is more compelling than looking towards the wall, should it happen that the openings of the building are not towards the east, we may reply to him that it is by convention that the doors of men's dwelling-places face in this or that direction, but that by nature the east has been given a preference over the other points of the compass, and nature ought to be placed before convention. Further, suppose that a man wishes to pray on a plain. Why on that reasoning should he pray towards the east rather than towards the west?

But if reason dictates that the east is to be preferred in that case, why should this not be done everywhere? So much for this matter.

The Subjects of Prayer (Chapter XX XIII) XX XIII, 1. Before bringing this treatise to an end, I think

I ought to say something about the subjects of prayer. It seems to me that four subjects, which I have found here and there throughout the Scriptures, may be outlined, and that every one should form his prayer accordingly. The subjects are these. At the beginning and preamble of the prayer, so far as possible,

God is to be glorified, through Christ glorified together with him, 34 Luke 8:18.

35 Mark 11:12-14, 21.

36 Luke 1:78.

37 John 1:9.

ORIGEN in the Holy Spirit hymned together with him. And next in order after this each one must offer general thanksgiving including blessings bestowed on many besides himself, together with those he has personally obtained from God. After thanksgiving, it seems to me that he ought to accuse himself bitterly before God of his own sins, and then ask God, first for healing that he may be delivered from the habit that causes him to sin, and secondly for forgiveness of the past. After confession, it seems to me that in the fourth place he should add his request for great and heavenly things,?* his own and general, and also" for his family and his dearest. And finally he should bring his prayer to a close glorifying God through Christ in the Holy

Spirit. a These subjects of prayer, as we said before, we found in one place or another of the Scriptures. The subject concerned with giving glory to God is thus expressed in the one hundred and third Psalm: '"'O Lord, my God, how greatly art thou magnified! 'Thou art clothed with praise and majesty; who coverest thyself with light as with a garment; who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain, who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters; who maketh the clouds a place for his feet, who walketh upon the wings of the winds; who maketh winds his messengers, his ministers a flame of fire: who layeth the foundations of the earth to remain stedfast; it shall not be removed for ever and ever. The deep is his covering as a vesture: the waters shall stand upon the mountains. At thy rebuke they shall flee: at the voice of thy thunder they shall be afraid.''39 And the greater part of this Psalm contains a glorification of the Father.

And each one can collect many other passages for himself, and he will thus see how widely the subject of glorification is dispersed.

3. As for thanksgiving, this example may be cited from the second [book] of the Kingdoms. After the promises made to David through Nathan,?? David was astonished at the gifts of God, and is reported to have given thanks for them in these words: "Who am I, O Lord my Lord, and what is my house, that thou lovedst me thus far? And I was made little in thy sight, my Lord, and thou hast spoken concerning the house of thy servant for a long time to come; but this is the law of man, O

Lord my Lord. And what can David say more unto thee? And now thou knowest thy servant, O Lord. For thy servant's sake thou hast done it, and according to thine heart hast thou

38 See IT, 2.

39 Ps. 104:1-7.

40 TT Sam. 7:1-17.

ON PRAYER

wrought all this thy greatness to make it known unto thy servant, that he may magnify thee, O Lord my Lord.''4!

4. An example of confession: "From all my transgressions deliver me''4?2; and elsewhere: "My wounds stink and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. I am pained and bowed down to the uttermost: I go mourning all the day long.''43

5. Of requests, in the twenty-seventh Psalm: "'Draw me not away with sinners, and with workers of iniquity destroy me not''44; and like words.

6. And having begun by glorifying God it is fitting to conclude and bring the prayer to an end by glorifying him, hymning and glorifying the Father of the universe through Jesus

Christ in the Holy Spirit, "to whom be the glory for ever.''45

Con oisicn

CHAPTER XXXIV

XXXIV. Thus, according to my ability, I have wrestled with the problem of prayer, and the prayer that is found in the Gospels,4® and the preceding context in Matthew,47 on your behalf,48 my very studious and true brethren in godliness, Ambrose and 'Tatiana. And I do not despair that, if you "'stretch forward to the things which are before'' and "forget the things which are behind,''49 and pray for us as we are engaged in these studies, I can obtain from God, the giver, greater and diviner gifts for these tasks, and receiving them I shall be able to treat again of these same matters with greater breadth and elevation and clarity. For the present, however, you will read this book with indulgence.

II Sam. 7:18-22.

42 Ps, 39:8.

43 Ps. 38:5, 6 code rpe tence 45 Rom. 16:27.

46 Matt. 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4.

47 Matt. 6:5-8.

48 Reading tpiv.

49 Phil. 3:13.

On Prayer NOTES Title On Prayer] A Title is wanting in Codex T. There can, however, be little or no doubt that "'On Prayer" is correct. In the course of the work Origen himself speaks of its subject as wept edyns (II, 1); and in his Apologia pro Origene (as translated by Rufinus) Pamphilus writes (ch. VIII): "Denique in tam multis et tam diversis eius libris nusquam omnino invenitur ab eo liber proprie De anima conscriptus, sicut habet vel De

Martyrio, vel De Ovatione, vel De resurrectione"' (P.G., XVII, 603).

Cf. also the title of the fragments in Codex Col. (see Introduction, p. 234) containing the last part of the treatise: tod

Wpiyevous TO Ths evyhs axpotercvTiov.

I, 1. "a corruptible body weigheth down the soul,' etc.| Thus, at the outset of his treatise Origen states in the words of the Wisdom of Solomon his philosophical position, akin to that of Plato

(Phaedo, XXX, 81C), concerning the relation of the soul to the body. This was fundamental in all Origen's thinking.

I, 1. "'the things that are in the heavens, who ever yet traced out?" | The impossibility of knowing God, apart from revelation, is yet another fundamental conviction. De Faye, III, 31, 32:

"Origéne éléve son Dieu audessus de toute pensée. II le relégue dans une insondable abstraction." See Introduction, p. 189.

I, 1. God bestows through Christ, who says, etc.| I have included in this case in the text the conjectural filling up of the lacuna by Koetschau, since a quotation from John 15:14, 15 is obvious, being demanded by the words that follow. The sentence ''They who hear the gospel . .

. of whom he was formerly Lord" follows an emendation by F. Leo (in Hautsch, 7.U., XXXIV,

155), accepted by Koetschau in his translation.

II, 1. Ambrose] Further details concerning this man may be

ON PRAYER

found in D.C.B., I, go-—91, and Lawlor and Oulton, Eusebius, II, 213 f. It is sufficient here to note that his association with Origen had a profound effect upon them both. Origen reclaimed him from heresy. Ambrose, on his part, encouraged Origen in his literary labours, and generously out of his own means, which were abundant, supplied him with equipment for them. The epithet "most laborious,"' which Origen here applies to Ambrose, is by no means otiose. His zeal and industry were so intense that even the indefatigable Origen called him playfully his "'task-master'? or "'slave-driver"

(€pyodwwxryns: Ex. 3:7; 5:6-14). Ambrose communicated in writing to Origen the questions about prayer (V, 6) which gave rise to this treatise.

See Introduction, p. 182.

II, 1. Yatiana| Nothing is known about this woman. Ambrose associated her with himself, apparently, in the questions about prayer. Some have supposed her to be Ambrose's sister

(the name of his wife was Marcella: see Origen, Ep. ad Africanum, sub fin.). She was evidently a person of somewhat mature age.

The epithet "'very brave" may suggest constancy in time of persecution.

II, 2. "Ask for the great things, and the little things shall be added unto you' | An Agraphon, or extra-canonical saying, attributed by some writers in the early Church to our Lord. Origen goes on:

"'and 'Ask for the heavenly things and the earthly things shall be added unto you.'"' But it is not clear whether he intends both parts to be regarded as one or two separate sayings. The latter part has echoes of John 3:12 combined with Matt. 6:33 and Luke 12:31. Clement of Alexandria (Strom., I, 24:158, 2) refers to the earlier part only: "Of the kingly office one portion is divine, that which appertains to God and his holy Son, by whom are supplied both the good things of the earth and besides perfect felicity as well. For 'Ask,' he says, "for the great things, and the little things shall be added unto you.'"' Cf. Eusebius, Jn

Psalm., 16:2: ""This also the Saviour taught, saying, 'Ask for the great things, and the little things shall be added unto you.'"' On the interpretation of "the great" and "the little' things Clement and Origen are at one. Clem., Strom., IV, 6:34, 6, says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and the righteousness: these are great things; the small things, appertaining to this life, shall be added unto you." Origen (contra Celsum, VII, 44) declares that the Christian prays for no trivial blessings, "'for he has learnt from Jesus to seek for nothing little, that is, an object of the senses, but to seek only the great and truly divine things, such

ORIGEN as are given by God to help to lead us on to that blessedness that is to be found with him through his Son, the Word, who is

God"; and he develops this thought in XIV, 1, of this treatise (see p. 266). Some modern scholars have also reckoned this agraphon as an indubitable saying of the Lord, e.g., Resch,

Agrapha, 230, "Es ist ein sehr gut beglaubigtes Herrenwort,"' and Ropes, Spriiche Jesu, 140, ""Dieser Spruch kann gewiss als eine treue Wiedergabe eines Lehrspruches Jesu gelten." See

H.D.B., article ""Agrapha" in extra volume; B. Jackson, Twenty-five Agrapha, 29 ff. For the sentiment, cf.

Plato, Apology, XVII.

II, 2. "'that Satan rejoice not over you" | wa pr éemyaph dpiv 6 catavas. The usual reading in I Cor. 7:5 is: wa pa meupacy buds 6 catavads. Von Soden notes this variant; but it seems to have escaped the attention of English scholars. 'That it is not a scribal error in T is plain from the words of Origen that follow:

"the joy that Satan takes in another's ill."' In spite of its weak attestation, there are two points that may be urged in favour of emiyapy div being the true reading: (1) it would be fatally easy for a scribe to alter emixaph to vretpaln in a reference to Satan; and (2) if Paul wrote emxaph) it would give additional point to I Cor. Sh 6: 1 ayann .

° . Ov Yatpet emt TH aoukia.

II, 2. "If ye stand praying" | Mark 11:25. Here and in IX: 3

Origen reads "'If ye stand"' instead of ""Whensoever ye stand," which is found in all the other textual authorities, except the Bohairic and the Sahidic versions, which also read '"'if."? For posture in prayer, see

XX XI, 2.

II, 4. hearkening as it were to it] Reading, with Bentley, émynxdw for dmyKow, which usually means "'obeying"' although it can also mean "'hearkening."'

II, 4. him, whose deep things, etc.] An emendation of Bentley is followed.

II, 4. so far as he ts able] ws éicxuce. The words, taken in their literal meaning, would indicate that the Spirit cannot fully fathom the deep things of God. If so, they must be added to those expressions used by Origen which indicate a doctrine of the Holy Spirit that falls short of the Catholic Faith. On the other hand, in De Princ., I, 3, 4 (as translated by Rufinus), in which the reference to I Cor. 2:10 again occurs, Origen says:

''As the Son, who alone knows the Father, reveals him to whom he will, so the Holy Spirit, who alone searches the deep things of God, reveals God to whom he will."? The knowledge and power of revelation possessed by the Holy Spirit is parallel to

ON PRAYER

that possessed by the Son, and he has it in virtue of his own being. It may be, however, that Origen draws a subtle distinction between "knowing the Father" (the peculiar property of the Son) and "'searching the deep things of God" (the peculiar property of the Spirit), and suggests that the latter involves a less complete understanding than does the former. And we cannot be sure that Rufinus has not doctored this passage in the interests of orthodoxy. Certainly, Jn Foh., II, 10, 11 (ed. Brooke) is on different lines. There Origen raises the question whether since it is said that all things were made through the Son, the Holy Spirit is one of them; and after some hesitation (in the course of which, however, he affirms his belief in three Hypostases) he slips into an affirmative answer, and comes to the conclusion that the Holy Spirit is one of the "'all things"' inferior

(drodceotépwv) to him through whom all things were made.

II, 4. not to all those who were being baptized| It is a favourite thought of Origen that there are two classes of believers, a higher and a lower, and that the former alone are capable of receiving esoteric teaching. Here he suggests that the same distinction was to be found in John's, as it was afterwards in Christian, disciples.

II, 6. I pray as a man] The punctuation and construction of the rest of this sentence is not self-evident: but I have followed

Koetschau as giving the clearest sense.

II, 6. the prayers recorded in the Gospels| Origen held (XVIII, 2, 3) that the versions of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew and Luke represent two different prayers.

III,1. occurs for the first time, so far as my observation goes| For another statement, involving a similar, but even greater amount of, search,:see XXII, 1. Such investigation must, under the literary conditions of the time, have been very laborious. But we now know that Christians of Origen's day had several books of the Bible combined in codex or book form, as for example in the Chester Beatty Biblical Papyri. And this must have made the task of such an examination of the Scriptures much lighter than if separate rolls had to be handled.

III, 2. is also employed in its customary usage] i.e., simply as "prayer, with no suggestion of "'vow."

III, 2. 1 addition to the sense previously mentioned | i.e., the sense of '"'vow"' (as at the beginning of this section).

III, 3. "JZ will go out from thee," etc.] In this quotation two similar verses of the LXX (Ex. 8:25, 28) are combined in a manner that suggests that Origen was relying on his memory.

ORIGEN III, 4. zs often used not in the accustomed manner | i.e., it is used in the sense of "'vow"' (as in Gen. 28:20-22), and not simply as "prayer."

III, 4. "' There are with us four men which are under a vow of their own act''| The reading followed by the Revised Version in Acts

21:23 is: "We have four men which have a vow on them." 'The reading "'of their own act"' (lit. "by themselves') appears to be

''Alexandrian,"' being read by Codices x and B and by the two Egyptian versions, as well as by Origen. It makes good sense, showing that the men in question had taken upon them their vow independently of Paul's intervention.

IV, 1. to distinguish, etc.| Trench (Synonyms of the New Testament, 188) justly points out that this long discussion of Origen on euche and proseuche has no great value. It amounts to no more than this. The customary meaning of both words is "prayer"':

III, 2 (euche); IV, 2 (proseuche). But in both cases the meaning "vow is sometimes found, although of euche many more instances of this sense are given than there are of proseuche: indeed only one passage, I Sam. 1:9-11, is cited for proseuche =vow, and in it the verb (proseuxato), not the noun, is used.

V, 1. the plausible arguments first of those, etc.| Origen's friends placed before him two arguments against prayer (see section 6 of this chapter): (1) that God has foreseen the future, and it must come to pass; (2) man has no free will, since God's will cannot be changed. The conclusion on both suppositions is that prayer is in vain. Before he deals with these objections, Origen mentions in passing (section 1) a third class of objectors who reject prayer altogether because they are atheists or do not believe in Providence. He then proceeds to deal with argument

(1) in sections 2-5. In ch. VI he begins a discussion of objection (2). A clearer arrangement would have been to place V, 6, at the beginning of the chapter.

V, 1. lacking in distinguished supporters| Origen means that there is no sect of philosophers which admits God and Providence and at the same time rejects prayer altogether, although it may doubt its efficacy.

V, 1. deny the existence of God, etc.| There is an echo of this aspect of Origen's teaching in the Panegyric of Gregory addressed to Origen, ch. XIII (P.G., X, 1088; A.N.L., VI, 34):

"He [Origen] deemed it right for us to study philosophy in such wise, that we should read with utmost diligence all that has been written, both by the philosophers and by the poets of old, rejecting nothing, and repudiating nothing... except

ON PRAYER

only the productions of the atheists, who, in their conceits, lapse from the general intelligence of man, and deny that there is either a God or a Providence." In contra Celsum, II, 13, Origen says that the Epicureans "completely reject'? Providence.

V, 1. to persuade some that they ought not to pray| Perhaps this is a direct reference to Clement of Alexandria, Strom., VII, 41, who speaks of the followers of the heresy of Prodicus as holding that one "ought not to pray' —zepi Tod p27 detv edyeofar—the same phrase as Origen uses here.

V, 1. those who completely reject objects of sense, and use neither Baptism nor Eucharist| 'That such persons were to be found in the early Church is clear from Irenaeus, Haer., I, 14:3 (Harvey), who speaks of a section of the gnostics, called the Marcosians, who reject baptismal rites, affirming that "the mystery of the ineffable and invisible power ought not to be performed by visible and corruptible things, nor the mystery of beings who are inconceivable and incorporeal by material objects of sense."

And Tertullian (De Bapiismo, 1) states that the Cainites rejected Baptism. The persons referred to by Ignatius (Smyrn. 6), who "abstain from Eucharist and prayer," did not apparently abstain altogether from this sacrament, but established a sacrament of their own apart from the Church (see Lightfoot's note ad. loc.). In contra Celsum II, 13, Origen says of the Peripatetic philosophers that they maintain prayers to be of no avail and sacrifices offered as to a Divinity.

V, 2. "'abhorreth none of the things,' etc.| Wisdom of Solomon 11:24. This appears to be the source of the words in the Collect of Ash Wednesday: "'Almighty and everlasting God, who hatest nothing that thou hast made."

V, 2. much further off from God] i.e., from the mind of God.

See Introduction, p. 189.

V, 3. melancholy madness| Origen uses the corresponding verb in contra Celsum, 11, 60, where he co-ordinates it with "being out of one's mind and delirious."

V, 4. "'good or bad''| In this quotation from Rom. 9:11 Origen reads ¢aidov for "'bad'' with x AB, etc., v./., Kaxdv.

V, 4. in vain do we pray concerning ..

. the reception of the Spirit of might| It is noteworthy that this form of the doctrine of predestination gives rise to the same difficulties concerning the reception of grace as Calvinism afterwards occasioned.

V, 4. why does Moses pray| The title of Ps. 89 (LXX) in both Hebrew and LXX is: "'A Prayer of Moses, the man of God."

V, 5. "tn him, in Christ" | Eph. 1:4. Either "in Christ" is a

ORIGEN gloss which has subsequently got into the text, or it is added by Origen from the preceding verse of Ephesians by way of explanation.

V, 5. one of those "'chosen''? | So Bentley emends the text of T.

V, 5. "conformed to the image'? of the glory * of his Son'? | Origen apparently quotes from memory. The words "'of the glory" are not in Rom. 8:29, but in Phil. 3:21; "'conformed to,"' being in both texts, has given rise to the confusion.

V, 5, many generations previously it was prophesied of him by name] The passage in I Kings 13:2 is without analogy in Hebrew prophecy, in that 350 years before its fulfilment it gives a specific and detailed prediction of what a person named (Josiah) would do.

V,5. why should Judas pray, etc.| This passage throws light upon the manner of interpreting the Old Testament in the time of Origen. Psalm 109 is regarded, not as indicating a set of circumstances which afterwards were seen to be applicable to the case of Judas, but as referring in the first instance to Judas, so much so that the actions of Judas, historically considered, are predestined by the prophecy. Origen indicates in contra Celsum,

II, 11, that he himself took a similar view of the Psalm, although he rejected the predestinarian views founded upon it. Cf. also

De Orat., VI, 5; XXIV, 5 V, 6. you addressed| ""You'' is singular. Ambrose wrote the letter, although Tatiana was associated with it.

V, 6. the future... must come to pass... what 1s willed by him is fixed| It is not clear if Ambrose (and Tatiana) put forward these difficulties as their own or as suggested to them by others.

It is significant, however, that Ambrose was formerly a gnostic.

Eusebius (H.2., VI, 18:1) says he was a follower of Valentinus, Jerome (V.1, 5, 6) that he was a Marcionite. For the gnostics denied moral freedom and held predestinarian views (see de

Faye, III, 179 ff.; Bigg, 243 ff.). Probably, therefore, even if the difficulties about prayer that Ambrose puts forward were not held by him at the time of writing, they had been difficulties for him once; and it is more than likely that he still had friends in gnostic circles who would press him for an answer to these questions.

V, 6. insensibility] Greek azovapkéay, lit. "to be numb": the effect, it was supposed, of being touched by the vapx7, the electric rayfish.

VI, 1. Of things that are moved, etc.| As in De Princ., III, 1, 2, Origen bases the reality of free will on the faculty of motion. In

ON PRAYER

order to demonstrate this, he arranges objects into three (or four) classes, as follows:

(1) (a2) Things without life, held together merely by their form (e.g., stones cut out of the quarry, wood that has lost the power of growing).

(b) Bodies of living creatures and growing plants when moved, not qua living creatures or plants, but by an external force, or when moved in virtue of the fact that they are in a state of decay and, consequently, of flux.

(2) Inanimate things (duya: De Princ., III, 1:2) moved by their own inherent nature or soul, i.e., ""out of themselves'

(e€ €avT@v), e.g., a growing plant.

(3) Animate things (eussvya), living creatures (a), moved "from within themselves"

(a¢' atrév). The impulse of the spider to weave a web, or of a bee to produce wax, are examples of this (De Princ.). [In De Principits Origen, while maintaining the distinction between classes (2) and (3), also groups them together as objects which are moved "in themselves"

(ev éavtoits).] | (4) Rational creatures, which are moved "through themselves" (dv' atv@v). In this case the movement and the mover are inseparably connected.

In the De Oratione Origen does not distinguish formally between classes (3) and (4); perhaps because he is anxious to point out, as he does, that to deny free will to us would be to deny thatwe are even living creatures (class 3), much less creatures of reason (class 4).

This argument from the power of self-motion is clearly derived, ultimately, from Plato (cf. Phaedrus, 245G et seq. and Laws, X, 893B et seq.), who regards it as constituting the essential character of the soul. On this point Plato was criticized by Aristotle (De Anima, I, ch. IIT).

VI, 1. held together merely by their form] Cf. Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, VI, 14, and Sextus Empiricus, adv. Math., VIII, 2, for a very similar phrase.

VI, 1. moved by their own inherent nature and soul| Cf. Proclus, Inst., 20.

VI, 2. that we have no free will| Lit. "that nothing is in our power." We have translated the phrase ro e¢' 7jyiv ("that which is in our power'') as free will in this section, in VI, 3, 4, and in ch. VII. It is found frequently also in contra Celsum,

CL Obs olEea0; TV 3 679" (bisy ior Vy oar). (Cheuplural, Ta ep Hytv, occurs in contra Celsum, V, 21, and De Orat., VI, 3.

A.C.—22

ORIGEN By the phrase the Stoics meant the inner court of judgment, that in a man which has the power to accept or reject certain impressions; and Origen took it over from them in the sense of the power of judgment or choice, as for example the power to resist evil passions and refrain from evil actions. The possession of this power was held to be open to question in Origen's day by the Sceptics: cf. Sextus Empiricus, Outline of Pyrrhonism, III,

70, '"'And if anyone should seek refuge in the notions of 'impulse' and 'purpose,' we must remind him of the controversy about 'What is in our power,' and how it is still unsettled, since hitherto we have failed to find a criterion of truth."' This quotation suggests, which is indeed a fact, that by this time the phrase had become through usage a recognized term, so much so indeed that it signified generally the power of choice, and could be used of a third person, in which case the "'our"' had no significance. Thus we have in ch. VII (beginning) tod 7Aiov ep' jpiv, "the free will of the sun,' and later on in the chapter

'the free will of the sun and moon and stars'; and in contra Celsum, I, 66, 76 ed' jyitv "Hpwdédov, "the free will of Herod." See de Faye, III, 182 ff., who translates the phrase: "'ce qui dépend de nous."

VI, 2. Let a man pay particular attention, etc.] So in almost the same words Origen begins a similar line of argument in De

Princ., UI, 1:4 (C.B., XXII, 198).

VI, 2. Some external moving force . . . assent to or accept] Following emendations adopted by Koetschau in his translation.

VI, 2. in suspense of judgment] ws éréywv. This was a characteristic feature of the philosophy of the sceptics. Cf. Sextus

Empiricus (c. 200 A.D.) Outlines of Pyrrhonism, I, 10: "'"Suspense'

[ezrox7)| is a state of mental rest as a result of which we neither deny nor affirm anything."

VI, 2. and deserves our praise or blame| I read tod for rovrou with Wendland. For "praise or blame" cf. Plato, Laws, 639C.

VI, 3. the train of future events | Tov cipnov THv écoévwv. Origen uses the same phrase in a similar argument in Jn Rom., I (Philocalta, 227, 220).

VI, 4. "SL will hear this man," etc.] This is not the only passage in which Origen adopts the method of putting his own conception of the mind of God into words as if spoken by God himself or Christ: cf. XIV, 1; XV, 4; XXIX, 14.

VI, 4. some inferior power . . . will now deservedly come upon him] Reading 75y for 75¢ 4 with Koetschau in his translation.

VI, 5. power for godliness| ''Power'' is literally '"'tension."

ON PRAYER

Origen borrowed this term from the Stoics (see X XVII, 8, and especially the reference of Plutarch to Cleanthes in note there, p. 367). According to them "tension"? when imparted to the soul was the cause of virtues and vices. Origen points out that in Paul it was an enablement towards virtue.

VII, 1. Even the sun has a certain free will, etc.| This passage must be read in the context of Origen's belief that the sun and moon and the host of heaven were rational beings and possessed of souls. Justinian, Kp. ad Mennam (P.G., LXXXVI, 971; cf.

C.B., XXII, 91), criticized Origen for saying that "the heaven and the sun and the moon and the stars and the waters that are above the heavens are living creatures [éuyvya] and are rational powers of a sort."" Cf. De Princ., I, 7:4 (as restored from Jerome: see C'.B., XXII, go): "the sun too and moon and the other stars are living creatures [animantia]; indeed, just as we men because of certain sins are encompassed with bodies which are gross and fat, so also the luminaries have received such and such bodies, so that they shine more or less brilliantly; and demons because of graver transgressions are clothed with a transitory body." Cf. also contra Celsum, V, 11: "'being persuaded that the sun himself and the moon and the stars pray to the God of the universe through his only-begotten Son, we judge it improper to pray to those beings who themselves offer up prayers." See also Daniélou, Orgene, III, 1. Origen was not alone among the Fathers in holding this opinion: see Bigg, one VII, 1. certain impressions] favraciot, here translated "impressions," also occurs in this treatise in VI, 2; VIII, 2 (0:5);

IX, 2; XX, 2 (ter); X XI, 1. It is not an easy word to translate in every case. Aristotle (De Anima, III, 3) contrasts it with senseperception (aic@yoavs); and he defined it as "that faculty in respect of which an image or mental picture presents itself before us." As used in the De Oratione the "impression"? may be of good or evil. "Imagination," "'thought," "notion," have also been used to translate the word. Marcus Aurelius (Meditations, V, 16) employs it in a famous sentence: "'the soul takes its dye from the thoughts" (Bamrerat bo TH pavTtacidv 7 Yvyx7)). Origen followed

Epictetus and the Stoics in holding that by virtue of the possession of free will aman could discriminate between "impressions," as they presented themselves to him, and either accept or reject them. See de Faye, III, 183 ff.

VII, 1. the worse course| This emendation (in place of "'the better course') seems necessary, since Origen is contrasting

ORIGEN beings on earth with heavenly beings who cannot be diverted from the right course.

VIII, 1. "vain repetitions' | See note on XXI, 1.

VIII, 1. nor ought we to come to prayer in wrath| Five times in this treatise (cf. also II, 2; IX, 1 (ds); XX XI, 1) Origen makes this point, with a reference to I Tim. 2:8. Perhaps the bitter experience he had recently gone through at Alexandria caused him to emphasize it. See Introduction, p. 176.

VIII, 2. God...who...

1s present| Three times in this section Origen lays stress upon the need of remembering the presence of God when praying. The fact throws light upon the mystical side of his nature. Though for him God is transcendent, philosophically speaking, it is of the essence of his religion to realize

God's nearness.

VIII, 2. spies out and anticipates every purpose| Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Strom., VII, 7:36, 37, for the belief concerning God and his presence entertained by the true gnostic.

VIII, 2. 2f the calling to mind... of an illustrious man] Cf.

Clement of Alexandria, Strom., VII, 7:35, where a similar line of thought is followed.

IX, 1. "disputengs' | Here and In JFoh., XXVIII, 5, and In Jerem. hom., V, 9, Frag. no. Ixvi (C.B., VI, 39, 231) Origen quotes I Tim. 2:8 with the plural (d:adoyiopadv), as vouched for by the corrector of 8, and Bohairic and Syriac versions and other authorities. In De Orat., II, 2, and XXX], 1, he reads the singular.

IX, 1. "and gold''| Twice in this section, in quoting I Tim.

2:9, Origen reads kal ypvo®. Variant readings are 7 for cat and xpuoiw ("wrought gold'') for ypucd.

IX, 2. When the eyes of the understanding are lifted up, etc.| This eloquent passage is paralleled, though not equalled, in In Foh.,

XXVIII, 4, and contra Celsum, VII, 44 (end). Cf. also Clement of Alexandria, Strom., VII, 3:13.

IX, 2. they partake of a kind of divine spiritual effluence} See XIX, 3, note.

IX, 2. "was signed upon us" | The Hebrew of Ps. 4:7(b) is, "Lift the light of thy countenance upon us," the verb "'lift"? being connected with a root meaning ''banner"' or ''standard."

Hence Symmachus translated it "makes a sign."" The LXX, reading the passive (niphal) of the verb, has "'was signed"; and Origen applies it to the spiritual impress upon the mind of him who contemplates God.

IX, 2. laying aside the nature of a soul it becomes spiritual] So also

ON PRAYER

BAI in In Foh., 1, 28, Origen speaks of a man's soul becoming mingled with his spirit, with the result that he becomes spiritual.

IX, 3. Jeremiah] Origen apparently quotes from memory.

There is nothing about bearing no malice in the passage of Jeremiah (7:22, 23) to which he refers. The words: "'Let no one bear malice against his neighbour in his heart" are a loose reference to Zech. 7:10: "'Let no one bear malice in your hearts as concerning the evil done by his brother."' Another explanation of the confusion is that the shorthand writer may himself have been confused and have failed to reproduce Origen's dictation accurately. But there are other indications (see XXVIII, 7;

XXX, 3; XXXI, 7) that Origen relied too much on his recollection of Scripture passages.

IX, 3. putting aside such malice in coming to pray| Perhaps here again we may find an echo of the wrongs Origen suffered before leaving Alexandria. See VIII, 1, note.

IX, 3. "Uf ye stand praying' | See note on II, 2.

X, 1. "while" he "'is yet speaking' | 'This reference to Isa. 58:9 occurs also in a similar connection in Jn Foh., XXVIII, 6, and in Clement of Alexandria, Strom., VII, 7:49 (end).

X, 1. by the power of him who "'hears in heaven'' | An emendation of the Anonymous, who reads év ovpav@ for evopdv with a reference I Kings 8:30.

X, 1. tt having been written of the previous trial] Koetschau thus emends the text of T, which runs, "'it having been written of the trial before it."

X, 2. who stands in the midst even of those who know him not| An allusion to John 1:26, which, together with Jer. 23:23, 24, is also referred to in contra Celsum, V, 12, where Origen says that the Christ of God is present, not only with those who cleave to him, but also everywhere with those who know him not.

X, 2. "at midnight" | The reading of T pecovdnriov appears to be a mistake for pecovuxriov, as the Anonymous notes.

XI, 1. the angels... the souls of the saints] Cf. XX XI, 5, where there is also a reference to the Book of Tobit. See also contra Celsum, VIII, 34.

XI, 1. Tobit] Here and in contra Celsum, V, 19, the name is spelt Tw fr.

XI, 1. "the Scripture says' | Tobit 3:16, 17. But in XIV, 4, Origen notes that 'they of the circumcision.

. . reject the book of Tobit as uncanonical." The citations from Tobit in this section follow the text of B and A, not that of &.

XI, 1. ""Feremiah'' | An example of a departed saint who prays

ORIGEN for those on earth. II Maccabees 15:14 is also quoted for the same purpose in Jn Foh., XIII, 58.

XI, 2. what had been prepared for, etc.| I follow the text as emended by the Anonymous.

XI, 2. one of the chiefest virtues] Cf. XXIX, 8 (end): "the most beautiful thing to be found among men, namely, charity."

XI, 2. Christ also acknowledges, etc.| For a similar thought and reference to the parable of the sheep and the goats, cf. In Jerem. hom., XIV, 7 (C.B., VI, 112).

XI, 3. How many angels, etc.| 'The Anonymous scholar observes that the question is not the number of angels but their ministry. He would therefore read 7s od« for wécovs—it must be that angels work more for the building up of the Church than did the apostles; and he refers to contra Celsum, VIII, 34, and In foh., XXXII, 17.

XI, 3. Do not they, even more than the apostles, work together | 'This passage does not fully express Origen's thought concerning the relationship of angels to churches. Not only do angels help the apostles to carry out the work of evangelization, but they are the heads in the invisible order of the churches as the apostles

(and the bishops) are in the visible sphere. When the Apocalypse speaks of angels of churches, invisible rulers are indicated. 'Thus each church possesses at one and the same time a visible bishop and an invisible angel. "One might almost say, if we follow

Scripture, that there are two bishops for each church: the one perceptible and visible and the other invisible [vonrdés]. And just as a man, if he has faithfully exercised the charge committed to him is praised: so also an angel"? (dn. Luc. hom., XIII; C.B.,

XXXV, g1). Gf. In. Num. hom., XI, 4 (C.B., XXX, 82 ff.). See also J. Daniélou, Origeéne, 240.

XI, 4. the general command] See Heb. 1:7, 14. Angels are ministers (Aevroupyot) of God, and are sent forth for the WE er of believers.

XI, 5. joins in our prayers| Cf. contra Celsum, VIII, 64.

XIL, 1. the exhortations of Fesus| E.g., Luke 18:1, ""men ought always to pray, and not to faint," and 21:36, "'watch ye at every season, making supplication."

XII, 1. It goes forth... or by faith| The text as emended by the Anonymous scholar has been followed. 'The general sense of the passage is not in doubt, and even Koetschau admits that some emendation is necessary. T has: "It goes forth like a dart from the soul of him who prays by knowledge and reason or by faith from the saint."

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XII, 2. virtuous deeds or commandments being included as part of prayer| Cf. In Matt., XVI, 22 (C.B., XL, 551) ""'My house shall be called the house of prayer.' For there should be nothing else in the Church besides prayer, every good deed also inviting the attention of God, being reckoned as prayer by God, in accordance with which the saying 'pray without ceasing' becomes possible." It is clear, therefore, that Origen did not regard the contemplative life and the practical life as distinct.

XII, 2. three times every day| Cf. Clement of Alexandria, Strom., VII, 40.

XII, 2. "In the morning," etc.| In this quotation from Ps. 5:3

Origen apparently alters "voice" (Hebrew and LXX) to "prayer" in the first half of the verse. In the second half the object of "I will order' has to be supplied from the sense; and the Revised Version adds "'my prayer."

XIII, 1. perhaps he would not have received it without prayer| Cf.

In Foh., XIII, 1: "The opinion may perhaps be held that no one who does not ask it receives the heavenly gift. Certainly, in the psalm the Father urges the Son himself to ask that it shall be given him, even as the Son similarly teaches us, saying: "The Lord said unto me, Thou art my Son, ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the utmost parts of the earth for thy possession.'"'

XIII, 2. Samuel, who was reckoned along with Moses| Cf. In I Sam. hom., XXVIII, 3 (C.B., VI, 285): "Moses who has been coupled with Samuel, according to the saying [ Jer. 15:1]."

XIII, 2. Hezekiah, when as yet he was childless| Origen bases this statement on the prayer of Hezekiah, when he was recovered of his sickness, as given in the LXX of Isa. 38:19, "From henceforth I will beget children, who shall proclaim thy righteousness, O Lord of my salvation," a passage which Origen quotes in contra Celsum, VIII, 46. The Hebrew Scriptures speak of one child—Manasseh—born three years after the illness of his father (II Kings 20:6; 21:1).

XIII, 2. "fa whistling dewy wind" | wvetpa Spdc0v diacupilov.

A detail wholly absent from the Hebrew, which is found in the Greek versions, LX X, and Theodotion, of Dan 3:50. The phrase is referred to again in XIII, 4, "fire of dew," and also in XVI, 3,

"the material dew which conquered the flame kindled by Nebuchadnezzar." Tertullian, De Oratione,

X XIX, also refers to "the angel of dew in mid-fires" ("'roris angelum in mediis ignibus"': P.L., I, 1195).

XIII, 3. have they fallen in with, etc.] This is the reading of T.

Bd.5.

ORIGEN Probably read "'have we fallen in with, and by our prayers," etc.

XIII, 4. "Egypt? is "an tron furnace,' being a symbol, etc.| Cf.

In Ferem. hom., UX, 2 (C.B., VI, 66).

XIII, 4. of what great fish... type, etc.] Similarly in Jn Levit. hom., VIII, 2 (C.B., X XIX, 397 f.) Origen speaks of the "'great fish"? which swallowed Jonah as the type of that referred to in Job 3:8, and identifies it with the devil.

XIII, 5. "'this great thing, which the Lord doeth before your eyes'' | I Sam. 12:16. Here and lower down in this section Origen reads

""doeth"' for "'will do" of the LXX. It being wheat harvest, 1.e., May-June, it was a season when thunder and rain were almost unknown in Palestine. Such a period is likened by Origen to a period of spiritual drought when the "thirsty soul' longs for — the "refreshing grace" of God.

XIV, 1. so that we may obtain in truth what they obtained in figure | I follow the emendation of the Anonymous. T has "'so that we may ask them"? (sc. "'the prayers''), which is obviously corrupt.

'""The prayers of the saints' here mentioned are clearly the prayers of the Old Testament saints, which Origen refers to in XIII, 2. They prayed for, and obtained, material blessings: but Christians can command spiritual blessings of which the former are but a symbol and type.

XIV, 1. will supply unto you| So Bentley and the Anonymous read, emending T which has "may supply unto you." If the reading of T is retained, the construction is "so that... the earthly and little things ..

. the Father may supply," etc.

XIV, 2. four nouns, etc.] See Introduction, pp. 206 f.

XIV, 2. in a dignified manner| Greek peyadodvéctepov. The word is not easy to translate, but its meaning here may be illustrated from contra Celsum, IV, 31: "'stately and dignified

[ceuvov Kat peyadodves] is this prohibition of theirs 'Lift not thine eyes up to heaven,' etc. [Deut. 4:19].

XIV, 3. Examples of the first of these terms] i.e., of "supplication,"' the object of which, according to Origen, is "the obtaining of something which a person lacks." But only in the case of the first of the four examples given is the object indicated.

XIV, 4. obelized| The obelus was one of the critical signs used from the third or second century B.c. by the grammarians of Alexandria, and said to have been first employed by Aristarchus in connection with his edition of Homer. The word means ''a spit," and it was usually represented by a straight line

, with or without accompanying dot or dots ~~~ —>— ——.

It was

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originally used to mark passages which the critic wished to censure. In the Hexapla Origen prefixed the obelus to words or lines which were wanting in the Hebrew; and this is precisely the meaning of the verb "'obelize"' here. See H. B. Swete, Jntroduction to the Old Testament in Greek, 69 ff.

XIV, 4. "with a song' | LXX: pera S545 (Hab. 3:1). The Hebrew is al Shigionoth (Revised Version "'set to Shigionoth'').

This word is apparently the plural of Shiggaion, found in the title of Psalm 7, and usually held to denote a poem of a wild, passionate character with rapid changes of rhythm. But the LXX read, doubtless correctly, al Neginoth (as in the title of Psalm 4, etc.) "with music of stringed instruments.' In Hab. 3:19 the LXX translation of al Neginotha is &v tH dy

QUTOUV.

XIV, 4. "in the midst of the two living creatures' | So the LXX reads in Hab. 3:2. The Hebrew has "'in the midst of the years."

In De Princ., 1, 3, 4 (C.B., XXII, 53) Origen states it as his opinion that the two living creatures (€@wyv) are the Son and the Holy Spirit. Justinian fastened on this passage (Lp. ad Mennam:

P.G., LX X XVI, 983) as implying Origen's belief that the Son and the Holy Spirit were created beings; but he failed to prove his assertion. See the note of the Anonymous in the edition of W. Reading, pp. 73, 74. This note, incidentally, indicates how clearly the Anonymous perceived the untrustworthiness of Rufinus's translations: "si qua omnino fides Interpreti Rufino sit habenda."'

XIV, 4. an excellent illustration of the definition of prayer| But on his own definition "'prayer," for Origen, includes "ta request to God for certain things." There is, however, no such request in Hab., ch. 3, which is an example of the wider use of the term

"prayer" in the Old Testament as an elevation of the mind to God which does not necessarily include petition.

XIV, 5. intercession] 'Though I have retained this translation of évrevéis, the Greek word does not necessarily involve what the English does, namely prayer in relation to others. But it implies, as Origen correctly observes, a free, confident approach to God. See Trench, Synonyms of the New Testament, 180 f.

XIV, 5. intercedes exceedingly] See footnote in text of II, 3.

XIV, 5. if we use the terms in their proper sense| It is essential to bear in mind, if we are to follow Origen's argument, how he defines "'prayer'' in section 2 of this chapter.

XIV, 6. supplication .

. addressed to holy men also| The text of T reads simply ''men''; but some alteration is required in view

ORIGEN of the words "'if these may be addressed to holy men" lower down in this section.

XIV, 6. other men] Here also T reads "men." Koetschau, following Klostermann, inserts "other."

The Anonymous suggests "'all men."

XIV, 6. supplication is addressed to the saints only| 'The reference is obviously to living saints. Note the words: "If, for example, a Paul or a Peter can be found"? (et rus edpeBein [latAos 7 Ilérpos)

—not ''Paul or Peter."' The interpretation of G. Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, 346, appears to be incorrect.

IV, 6. Making us worthy to receive the authority| Light is thrown upon this passage by XXVIII, 9. The apostles received through the Holy Spirit the authority to forgive sins. Others like them (''a Paul or a Peter'), who are led by the Spirit as sons of God, have a similar authority. Like the prophets they are speaking not the things of their own but of the divine will.

See W. H. Frere in The Early History of the Church and Ministry, chi: Vaipie2o2.

XIV, 6. Stephen] Acts 7:60. But in the previous verse we read of him '"'calling upon (the Lord) saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit''—clearly a "prayer."

XV, 1. but only to the God and Father of all| For this limitation concerning prayer (in the proper sense of the term according to Origen), see Introduction, pp. 187 f., 231.

Cf. contra Celsum, V, 4: "Every supplication and prayer and intercession and thanksgiving is to be offered to God who is over all through the high priest who is above all the angels, the living

Word and God. But we shall supplicate the Word himself and intercede with him and give thanks, yes and pray also, if we are able to pay attention to the correct use and the abuse of terms concerning prayer." The concluding words, if they are to be brought into line with De Orat., XV, 1, must mean that "prayer" in the looser, but not in the stricter, sense may be addressed to Christ.

On similar lines is contra Celsum, VIII, 13: "We worship the one God and his one Son and Word and Image with entreaties and requests according to our ability, bringing our prayers to the God of the universe through his only-begotten: to whom first we offer them, counting him worthy who is the propitiation for our sins to bring as a high priest our prayers and sacrifices and intercessions to the God who is over all."

A less decisive passage is contra Celsum, V, 11 (end): "And although one may not be so great (as the sun), nevertheless let

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34.7 such a one pray to the Word of God as able to heal him, and much more to his Father, who sent his Word to them of old time and healed them and delivered them from their afflictions."

On the other hand, a different point of view is indicated in In Rom., VIII, 5: "If therefore Enoch and Moses and Aaron and Samuel called upon the Lord, and he heard them, doubtless they called upon Christ Jesus as Lord: and if to call upon the name of the Lord and to pray to the Lord are one and the same thing, as God is called upon, Christ is to be called upon; and as God is prayed to, so also Christ is to be prayed to; and as we offer prayers to God the Father first of all, so also to the Lord

Jesus Christ; and as we offer requests to the Father, so we offer requests to the Son also; and as we offer thanksgiving to God, so also we offer thanks to the Saviour' (P.G., XIV, 1165 f.).

But as this passage is found only in the Latin translation of Rufinus, it may have been altered in the interests of orthodoxy.

The Anonymous, however, in a learned and able note (Reading, 78 f.), confining himself to a consideration of those passages in which the Greek is extant, endeavours to make Origen consistent with himself. He maintains that in the passage of the De

Oratione Origen is speaking of Christ only under the aspect of "high priest and advocate'' (see XV, 4), and therefore insists that Christ gua mediator is not to be prayed to; but that when

Origen is referring to Christ as Word or Son of God (e.g., in contra Celsum V, 4. and V, 11) he says something different. The Anonymous also draws attention to the limited connotation of the word "prayer" as used in the De Oratione here.

XV, 1. "Teach us to pray'... "Our Father," etc.| Origen here confuses Matthew and Luke. The words 'Teach us to pray' come from Luke 11:2, but "Our Father," etc., from Matt. 6:9. Indeed, in XVIII, 2, Origen gives the text of the prayer in Luke as "'Father, Hallowed be thy name," etc.

XV, 1. the Son 1s different from the Father in person and subject | eTepos ...KaT ovatay Kal vmoKkeievov (-ds T) €aTWW 6 vidos TOO matpos. Apparently Origen uses ovoia here in the sense of Person (that which distinguishes the Son from the Father); as he also does in In Joh., 11, 23, where he argues that because the Son is called light and the Father is called light, it does not follow that the Son is not in ovata (i.e., Person) different from the Father. Cf. also In Joh., I, 28 fin. and contra Celsum, VI, 64. drroKeipevos is similarly used in In Ferem. hom., VIII, 2 (C.B.,

VI, 57). A similar use of the term ovoia appears in Eusebius, H.E., V1, 33, in describing the heresy of Beryllus of Bostra,

ORIGEN whom Origen converted to orthodoxy. On the other hand, ovoia and troxeiywevos are distinguished in In Foh., X, 37, ovoia meaning "'essence,"' and dzoxeipevos "person'' or "subject."

See Bigg, 203 (note), Bethune Baker, 149, F. Prat, Origéne 172. v, I. in accordance with the words "'he sware''| 'The Anonymous would read "'the Lord sware"' following Ps. 109:4 (LX X) and Heb. 7:21.

XV, 2. it is not fitting that a man... should pray to him who prays| Cf. contra Celsum, V, 11.

XV, 2. had given this teaching| An emendation of the Anonymous, followed by Koetschau. T reads "'shall give."

XV, 2. no one had "'asked the Father" | In XXII, 1, Origen points out that nowhere in the Old Testament is God called

'Father' in prayer.

XV, 3. named Jerusalem] Actually "Sion" is the word used (Isa. 49:14).

XV, 4. he who said... might also say| This emendation by Delarue makes it clear that the words put into the mouth of the Son, which follow, are merely hypothetical.

XV, 4. "Why callest thou me good?' | This quotation from Mark 10:18 is a favourite one with Origen when he touches on the subordination of the Son to the Father. Cf. contra Celsum,

V, 113 In Joh., 1, 35; I, 13; XIII, 36; also VI, 47; XIII, 25; Exhort. 7. See H. B. Swete, ad loc.

XV, 4. "one?" Father with him] Reading atv@ for adrév with Bentley and the Anonymous.

XV, 4. to the Father alone with me and through me] 1.e., in company with me (as your brother) and through me (as your mediator).

XVI, 1. either with the Father or apart from the Father| Cf. the letter of Theophilus Alex., as translated by Jerome (C.V., LV,

148, 149) "cum legeretur ...4in alio libro, qui 'de oratione' scribitur: 'non debemus orare filium, sed solum patrem, nec patrem cum filio,' obturavimus aures nostras,'' etc. See Introduction, p. 231.

XVI, 2. the command to ask for "'heavenly'' and "'great'' things | Cf. In Matt., XVI, 28 (C.B., XL, 571).

XVI, 2. the shadow of the bodily object| The illustration may be found puzzling if it is not perceived that in the case of a human giver "'the bodily object' is the important thing, "'the shadow," which it casts, is unimportant; but in the case of the divine

Giver, the heavenly, spiritual gifts are what really matter, the

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earthly blessings are the "'shadows"' of the heavenly things, and are quite inferior. It is the will of God to give us heavenly things: the bodily blessings, which are ''added"' (Matt. 6:33), are merely their natural accompaniments.

XVI, 3. material dew] See note on XIII, 2.

XVI, 3. Does it not follow, etc.| A free translation is given of this sentence, following an emendation of Bentley. In any case,

Origen's meaning is clear. Jonah and his physical deliverance is typical of the spiritual deliverance of those who look to Jesus as Saviour.

XVI, 3. the great fish] 1.e., allegorically, the devil, with reference to Job 3:8, as is apparent from Jn JoA., I, 17, and De Princ.,

IV, 5 (C.B., XXII, 300).

XVII, 1. This chapter is an example of the imperfect arrangement, due no doubt to its hasty composition, that is to be found here and there in the De Oratione. Obviously it ought to follow XVI, 2, immediately. In that section, g.v., Origen speaks of the "'shadows,"' i.e., earthly blessings, which accompany, as a natural consequence, spiritual blessings. He now qualifies this statement. Just as in some latitudes and at some times the gnomon of the sun-dial gives no shadow, or a greater or less shadow, so God's spiritual gifts are sometimes accompanied by no earthly blessings or only to a more or less degree. This will cause the spiritually minded man no real concern. He who rejoices in the sunlight will pay no attention to the presence or absence of a shadow on the dial; neither should we, in the presence of God's spiritual gifts, take thought concerning material blessings, whether they be given or not.

XVII, 1. problems connected with sun-dials | Cf. Pliny, Nat. Hist., II, (72) 74-(76) 78, where the variations, according to latitude, of shadows on the sun-dial are discussed.

XVII, 2. "a kingdom' of Christ "that cannot be shaken''| Cf.

Heb. 12:28. An emendation of Bentley. T reads ''a kingdom of Christ of those who reign,"? which has been emended to "a kingdom of Christ, king of those who reign"? (Klostermann), with reference to I Tim. 6: 15, and '"'a kingdom of Christ who reigns" (Anonymous).

XVIII, 1. you who read this book DB judge| The gift of the Spirit for discernment being the possession of all Christians (cf.

I Cor. 2), the readers of the De Oratione will be able to discover if it possesses the marks of the spirit.

XVIII, 1. outlined] iroypadcicay, i.e., written as a model or example of prayer. The verb is used for tracing letters for

ORIGEN children to write over: cf. I Pet. 2:21, "leaving us an example (droypappov)."

XVIII, 1. with what power it has been filled] Origen examines the text of the Lord's Prayer from no merely critical or intellectual standpoint: for him its inspiration, in the sense of power to inspire, is paramount. Cf. John 20:31: "These are written

. .. that believing ye may have life in his name." See also H. de Lubac, Histoire et Esprit, 125 ff.

XVIII, 2. The text of Matthew... Luke's text| See Introduction, pp. 213 f.

XVIII, 3. Jt is better to take the view that the prayers are different | Origen forms this judgment simply from the prayers as they lay before him in the Gospels, and from this point of view his conclusions are reasonable and sound. We should today approach the problem rather from the findings of source-criticism of the Gospels, the Jewish antecedents of the Prayer, and its liturgical use in the primitive Church, laying less stress than Origen does upon its context in the Gospels. It is easier, therefore, for us to hold the view that an original nucleus transmitted from the Lord has resulted in two different forms, one of which has become almost universal under the influence of liturgical tradition.

XVIII, 3. we searched also| For a similar kind of search, see XXII, 1.

XIX, 1. must first be settled and disposed, etc.| Cf. VIII, 2X, 2. [tis not surprising that Origen, as a master of the spiritual life, lays stress on this; but it is characteristic of him that he seeks for and cites Scriptural support for his view.

XIX, 2. his accustomed oath| A heightened description of the formula "Verily, I say unto you,'' which occurs some seventy times in the Gospels.

XIX, 2. "They have received their reward" | The verb used in Matt. 6:2, 5, is azéxovor, which means, in the light of its usage in papyri, "they have given their receipt'—and therefore cannot claim anything further in that respect.

XIX, 2. he did not "'sow unto the Spirit" | The passage in Gal.

6:6-10 has much in it about doing good to others, and its reward. And this suggests to Origen its co-ordination with the passage in Matt. ch. 6, referred to in the previous note.

XIX, 3. stands init, etc. ] The text followed is that as emended by Koetschau ("if any alteration is necessary'), except that he takes "'through love of pleasure" with the preceding clause. T has: "stands in it not well, praying in the corners of the streets, through love of pleasure frequenting not one but several

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streets.' Bentley conjectured: "'stands in it, praying not otherwise in the corners of the streets than through love of pleasure frequenting," etc. The Anonymous conjectured: "in which he stands not well who prays in the corners of the streets through love of pleasure," etc. At the background of these references to "twists" and '"'corners" and "not one but several streets" is the Greek idea, to which Origen gives expression in XXI, 2, that virtue is one, vice is many.

XIX, 3. fallen from their deity| In contra Celsum, III, 37, Origen says that Christians through the only-begotten God the Word "'partake of deity"; and in De Orat., XXIII, 5, he speaks of those "to whom appertains a certain divine glory and power and—so to speak—an effluence of his deity." Again, in XXIV, 4, we read, ""when a man partaking of an effluence of deity exalts that very power of God of which he has partaken."'