On Prayer

Origen, tr. Oulton, 1954

Hearing, then, Jesus saying these things, let us pray to God through him, all saying the …

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,¹ 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,”² so he is not the Lord of ignoble slaves, but of those who are ennobled, who at the beginning, because of their infancy,³ lived in fear, but afterwards in love serve a happier servitude than that of fear.⁴ 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.

Prayer for “earthly” and “heavenly” blessings

Everyone therefore that asks God for “earthly” and “little” things disregards the command to ask for “heavenly” and “great” things⁵ 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 saying⁶ 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.⁷ 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,”⁸ “given to each” of the saints “to profit withal,”⁹ either “according to the proportion of faith,”¹⁰ or “even as” the Giver “wills.”¹¹ And he wills wisely, even though we cannot assign a cause and reason worthy of the Giver to each of his gifts.

The soul of Hannah,¹² 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]¹³ the power of “the prince”¹⁴ 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”¹⁵) was bestowed more abundantly upon Ananias and those that were with him than was the material dew¹⁶ which conquered the flame kindled by 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 follow¹⁷¹⁸ that he who has escaped from the belly of the great fish¹⁹ worsted by Jesus our Saviour, which swallows every fugitive from God, becomes a Jonah capable as a saint of receiving the Holy Spirit?

Notes

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 . . . in 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.
Mark 12:27; Matt. 22:32; Luke 20:38.
Cf. Gal. 4:1, 3.
Cf. Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6, 7.
XVI, 2. the command to ask for “heavenly” and “great” things] Cf. In Matt., XVI, 28 (C.B., XL, 571).
Matt. 6:33.
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 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.
I Cor. 12:1, 4.
I Cor. 12:7.
Rom. 12:6.
I Cor. 12:11.
This section takes up again the O,T. references of XIII, 2.
The words in square brackets have been supplied to fill up a lacuna in the text.
Cf. Mark 3:22; John 12:31; 14:30, 16:11.
Gen. 27:28.
XVI, 3. material dew] See note on XIII, 2.
See note.
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] i.e., allegorically, the devil, with reference to Job 3:8, as is apparent from In Joh., I, 17, and De Princ., IV, 5 (C.B., XXII, 300).