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On Prayer

Origen, tr. Oulton, 1954

Having thus expounded the benefits which come to the saints from prayer, let us go on to …

Prayer: (a) Content, (b) Forms, (c) To whom addressed (Chapters XIV to XVII)

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.”1 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,23 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 you4 in accordance with the measure of your need.”

Since the apostle in the First Epistle to Timothy uses four nouns5 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 says as follows: “I exhort, therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, thanksgivings, be made for all men,”6 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 manner7 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.

Examples of the first of these terms8 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.”9 (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?”10 (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.”11 (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”12; and Esther herself “made supplication to the Lord, the God of Israel, and said, Lord, our King.”13

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.”14 (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.”15 But since “they of the circumcision”16 have obelized17 the passage in Daniel, as 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,”18 and so forth. (4) In Habakkuk: “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, with a song.1920 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 creatures21 thou shalt be known, when the years draw nigh thou shalt be observed.”22 This passage is an excellent illustration of the definition of prayer,23 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.”24

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”25 within the power of the Spirit, since he is greater and has “boldness toward”26 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.”27 The Spirit “intercedes exceedingly”28 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.”29 (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.”30 And though it is not stated that Joshua and Samson “interceded,” but that they “spoke,” what they said seems to me to be “intercession,” which in my opinion is different from “prayer,” if we use the terms in their proper sense.31

An example of “thanksgiving” is to be found in our Lord’s words, “I thank32 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.”33 For exhomologoumai has the same meaning as eucharisto.

Now, supplication and intercession and thanksgiving may not unsuitably be addressed to holy men also;34 but two of them (I mean intercession and thanksgiving) not only to the saints but also to other men,3536 while supplication is addressed to the saints only,37 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”38 given to them “to forgive sins.”39 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 Stephen40 did when he said, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”41; and imitating the father of him who was “epileptic,” say, “I beseech” thee, Lord, “have mercy,” either on “my son,”42 or on myself, or on any one whomsoever.

Notes

  1. See II, 2.
  2. A textual emendation has been adopted: see note.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. XIV, 2. four nouns, etc.] See Introduction, pp. 206 f.
  6. I Tim. 2:1.
  7. XIV, 2. in a dignified manner] Greek μεγαλοφυέστερον. The word is not easy to translate, but its meaning here may be illustrated from contra Celsum, IV, 31: “stately and dignified [σεμνὸν καὶ μεγαλοφυὲς] is this prohibition of theirs ‘Lift not thine eyes up to heaven,’ etc. [Deut. 4:19].”
  8. 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.
  9. Luke 1:13.
  10. Ex. 32:11.
  11. Deut. 9:18.
  12. Esth. 13:8, 9 (R.V. and Vulg.); 4:17 a, b (LXX).
  13. Esth. 14:3 (R.V. and Vulg.); 4:17 k, l (LXX).
  14. Dan. 3:25 (LXX).
  15. Tobit 3:1, 2.
  16. Acts 10:45; 11:2; Rom. 4:12; Gal. 2:12; Col. 4:11; Titus 1:10.
  17. 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 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, Introduction to the Old Testament in Greek, 69 ff.
  18. I Sam. 1:10, 11.
  19. See note.
  20. XIV, 4. “with a song”] LXX: μετά ᾠδῆς (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 Neginothai is ἐν τῇ ᾠδῃ αὐτοῦ.
  21. 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., I, 3, 4 (C.B., XXII, 53) Origen states it as his opinion that the two living creatures (ζῴων) are the Son and the Holy Spirit. Justinian fastened on this passage (Ep. ad Mennam: P.G., LXXXVI, 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.”
  22. Hab. 3:1, 2.
  23. XIV, 4. an excellent illustration of the definition of prayer] But on his own definition “prayer,” for Origen, includes “a 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.
  24. Jonah 2:1, 2, 3.
  25. XIV, 5. intercession] Though I have retained this translation of ἔντευξις, 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, 189 f.
  26. Cf. I John 3:21.
  27. Rom. 8:26, 27.
  28. XIV, 5. intercedes exceedingly] See footnote in text of II, 3.
  29. Josh. 10:12.
  30. Judg. 16:30.
  31. 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.
  32. ἐξομολογοῦμαί.
  33. Matt. 11:25; Luke 10:21.
  34. XIV, 6. supplication . . . addressed to holy men also] The text of T reads simply “men”; but some alteration is required in view of the words “if these may be addressed to holy men” lower down in this section.
  35. Text as emended by Klostermann.
  36. XIV, 6. other men] Here also T reads “men.” Koetschau, following Klostermann, inserts “other.” The Anonymous suggests “all men.”
  37. 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” (εἴ τις εὑρεθείη Παῦλος ἤ Πέτρος) —not “Paul or Peter.” The interpretation of G. Dix, The Shape of the Liturgy, 346, appears to be incorrect.
  38. XIV, 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, ch. V, p. 292.
  39. Cf. Matt. 9:6; John 20:23.
  40. 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.”
  41. Acts 7:60.
  42. Matt. 17:15; Luke 9:38.

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