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On Prayer

Origen, tr. Oulton, 1954

After this it does not seem to me to be out of place, in order to complete our discussion…

Supplement to General Discussion on Prayer
Chapters XXXI to XXXIII
Disposition and Posture in Prayer (Chapter XXXI, 1–3)

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 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,1 in describing the disposition, that prayer should be made “without wrath and disputing”; in describing the posture, “lifting up holy hands.”2 This, it seems to me, has been taken from the Psalms, as follows: “The lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.”3 Concerning the place: “I desire therefore that the men pray in every place.”4 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.”56

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 distraction78 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;9 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 out10 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, 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.

And as for kneeling, that it is necessary when one is 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 I bow my knees unto the Father,11 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.”12 Spiritual kneeling, so named because every creature falls down before God “in the name of Jesus” and humbles himself 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.”13 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.1415 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 absurd16 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.”17 Moreover, what is written in the prophet, “Unto me every knee shall bow,”18 has the same significance.

The Place of Prayer (Chapter XXXI, 4–7)

And concerning the place, it should be known that every place is suitable for prayer19 by him who prays well. For, “In every place offer incense to me, saith the Lord”20; and “I desire therefore that the men pray in every place.”21 But in order that he may perform the act of prayer in quiet without distraction, 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.22 And as I look into this matter still further, concerning the place of prayer, I 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 is allowed by the apostolic word, “by way of permission, not of commandment.”23 For if it is not possible to “give” oneself “unto prayer” as one ought, “unless” given over to it “by consent for a season,”2425 perhaps the same consideration should be applied, if possible, to the place.

There is a place of prayer which has charm as well as usefulness, the spot where “believers” come together “in one place,”26 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,27 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”28; 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,”29 it is probable that, when numbers are come together genuinely for the praise of Christ, each one’s “angel”30 who is “round about” each of “them that fear [God] encamps”28 with that man whom he is charged to guard and keep: so that when the saints are gathered together there is a double church,31 the one of men, the other of angels. And if Raphael says of Tobit32 by himself, that he had offered up his “prayer” for “a memorial” and, after him, the prayer of “Sarah,” who later on became his “daughter-in-law”33 through her marriage to Tobias34: 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 judgment”?35 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”36 being associated not only with the Ephesians3738 but also with the Corinthians. And if Paul while still clothed with a body held that it co-operated with his spirit in Corinth,3940 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.

Even as the power of Jesus, the spirit of Paul and of such as he, and “the angels of the Lord encamping round about”41 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 devil4243 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 over44 the Church45 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,46 they will not be watched over.47 This is indicated in Isaiah when the Lord says, “not even if ye come to appear before me”48; for, he says, “I will turn away mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear you.”49 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.”50

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 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”51 them. Like “the fig tree” which had been “cursed,” which was taken away even “from the roots,”52 because it had not given “fruit” to Jesus when he was “hungry,” so also they were “withered,”53 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.54

Notes

  1. Chs. II and IX.
  2. I Tim. 2:8.
  3. Ps. 141:2.
  4. I Tim. 2:8.
  5. Wisdom of Solomon 16:28: see note.
  6. XXXI, 1. before the dawning of the light] Wisdom of Solomon 16:28. This is the reading of a corrector of Codex ℵ. But the sense demands the usual reading “towards the dawning of the light,” i.e., the East.
  7. Adopting emendation of Bentley.
  8. XXXI, 2. every kind of distraction] This is the emendation by Bentley of T, which has “every kind of temptation” (περισπα- σμὸν for πειρασμὸν). Koetschau goes as far as to acknowledge that the conjecture is “nicht ohne Wahrscheinlichkeit.”
  9. XXXI, 2. before the hands . . . before the eyes] “Before” is best taken as temporal, as it must certainly so be taken in “before he stands,” etc. The preferable attitude of the body in prayer is indicated lower down in this section—standing, with hands outstretched and eyes uplifted; and inasmuch as the soul takes precedence over the body, so also the soul, the mind and the reason should symbolically anticipate the movements of the body. See the article Orant, Orante, with numerous illustrations of this attitude in prayer, by H. Leclercq in D.A.C.L.
  10. XXXI, 2. the hands are stretched out] So also Tertullian, Apol., 30, speaks of Christians in prayer manibus expansis. J. E. B. Mayor, ad loc., gives many references to this practice.
  11. XXXI, 3. “I bow my knees unto the Father”] After these words the “received text” adds “of our Lord Jesus Christ,” which Origen omits with ℵ A B C P Boh Aeth Jerome (expressly) and other authorities. The corrector of ℵ inserts them.
  12. Eph. 3:14, 15.
  13. Phil. 2:10.
  14. See note.
  15. XXXI, 3. it has been shown . . . that their bodies are spherical] Many of the Greek philosophers from early times held that the cosmos and celestial bodies were spherical. Xenophanes (sixth century B.C.) affirmed that God, and Parmenides (born c. 510 B.C.) that “the whole,” was of this shape (see Hippolytus, Philosoph., I, 11, 14). Plato, Timaeus, 33B (trans. R. G. Bury), says: “Now for that Living Creature which is designed to embrace within itself all living creatures the fitting shape will be that which comprises within itself all the shapes that are; wherefore he wrought it into a round [κυκλοτερὲς], in the shape of a sphere [σφαιροειδές], equidistant in all directions from the centre to the extremities, which of all shapes is the most perfect and the most self-similar; since he deemed that the similar is infinitely fairer than the dissimilar.” The same view was taken by Aristotle (e.g., De Anima, I, 2), and also Theophrastus (c. 371–c. 287 B.C.), who attached a spherical shape to the “first principle.” Another holder of this opinion used to be cited in “Timaeus Locrus,” Concerning the World-Soul and Nature (printed in Teubner texts after the Timaeus in Vol. IV of Plato’s Dialogues) II, 94D: but this work is now held to be spurious and to be probably dated not earlier than first century A.D. (J. Burnet, Early Greek Philosophy, 280). H. Chadwick, however, has pointed out (The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. XLI, No. 2) that there is no specific reference in this passage of the De Oratione to the resurrection or the resurrection body; and that Justinian, in criticizing Origen on this matter (see Introduction, p. 232), may have attributed to Origen himself the views of some of his followers.
  16. XXXI, 3. It would lead to a very absurd] This sentence is designed to refute a further line of argument which might be put forward, namely, that though it is true that celestial bodies could have no uses for all the organs of an earthly body, they might have the appearance of possessing all these organs. This, says Origen, would be to liken them to a hollow statue, with surface but no depth.
  17. Phil. 2:10.
  18. Isa. 45:23.
  19. XXXI, 4. every place is suitable for prayer] Cf. contra Celsum, VII, 44: “A Christian, even an ordinary Christian, is persuaded that every place forms part of the universe, and the whole world is God’s temple. And so, praying in every place, shutting the eyes of sense, and raising upwards the eyes of the soul, he climbs above the whole universe. Neither does he pause at the vault of heaven, but passes in thought into the region beyond the heaven, being led on his way by the divine Spirit, and having thus as it were travelled beyond the universe, he offers up his prayer to God for no trivial blessings.” A similar thought inspires Clement of Alexandria to one of his most eloquent passages (Strom., VII, 35): “Such is he who believes God is everywhere present, and does not suppose him to be shut up in a certain definite place. . . . Accordingly all our life is a festival: being persuaded that God is everywhere present on all sides, we praise him as we till the ground, we sing hymns as we sail the sea, we feel his inspiration in all that we do” (Hort and Mayor). Cf. Strom., VII, 43.
  20. Mal. 1:11.
  21. I Tim. 2:8.
  22. XXXI, 4. the visitation of God will not rest upon it] Here “visitation” ἐπισκοπὴ connotes “searching inquisition,” “punishment,” as sometimes in the Old Testament (Isa. 10:3; Jer. 6:15; 10:15; Ecclesiasticus 18:20).
  23. I Cor. 7:6.
  24. I Cor. 7:5.
  25. XXXI, 4. “by consent for a season”] Here Origen harks back to a passage (II, 2) at the beginning of the treatise where he also quotes I Cor. 7:5.
  26. Cf. Acts 2:1, 44.
  27. XXXI, 5. clearly also those who are still in this life] Origen’s confident assertion is based on the quotation from I Cor. 5:4 which follows later, in which Paul says that though absent in the flesh he will be present in the spirit at a gathering of the Christian Church.
  28. Ps. 34:7.
  29. Gen. 48:16.
  30. XXXI, 5. each one’s angel] For the belief that each Christian has a guardian angel, see also VI, 4, XI, 5, and Introduction, p. 195.
  31. XXXI, 5. there is a double church] The same words occur in In Luc. hom., XXIII (C.B., XXXV, 156): “Ego non ambigo et in coetu nostro adesse angelos, non solum generaliter omni ecclesiae, sed etiam singillatim, de quibus Salvator ait Angeli eorum semper, vident faciem Patris mei qui in caelis est. Duplex hic adest ecclesia, una hominum, altera angelorum.” The following quotation from C. H. Boutflower, domestic chaplain to Bishop Westcott (Life and Letters of B. F. Westcott, by A. Westcott, II, 372) may be relevant. “Finding the Bishop struggling late and minutely one night over the draft of a service for the Dedication of Gifts in some humble church, his Chaplain said, ‘Well, my Lord, that congregation will not be a critical one: they are accustomed to anything.’ With a gentle, surprised smile, such as Elisha’s might have been at Dothan, the Bishop looked up from his desk and said, ‘You forget: who are “the congregation”? We are only an infinitesimal part of it.’”
  32. XXXI, 5. Raphael says of Tobit] Cf. XI, 1, where the book of Tobit is also used to enforce teaching about angels.
  33. XXXI, 5. who later on became his daughter-in-law] T has “who became his subsequent [ὑστέρας] daughter-in-law”: but Tobias had no wife before Sarah. Koetschau emends to ὑστέρως.
  34. Tobit 12:12; 3:16, 17.
  35. I Cor. 1:10.
  36. I Cor. 5:4.
  37. See note.
  38. XXXI, 5. being associated not only with the Ephesians] Paul wrote his first Epistle to the Corinthians from Ephesus (I Cor. 16:8).
  39. Cf. I Cor. 5:3, 4.
  40. XXXI, 5. his spirit in Corinth] Probably we should adopt the emendation of the Anonymous “his spirit for those in Corinth.”
  41. Ps. 34:7.
  42. Adopting an emendation of the Anonymous.
  43. XXXI, 6. who has given himself up to the angel of the devil] A brilliant emendation of the Anonymous, who reads ἐπιδῷ for ἐπί τῷ, and cites parallels for the thought from Origen and Hermas.
  44. Adopting emendation.
  45. XXXI, 6. the angels . . . watch over the Church] T has: “the divine will watching over the Church,” which the Anonymous rightly emends. Cp. XI, 5; “the angels who watch over.”
  46. XXXI, 6. for the carrying out of worldly business] Like those who met in the Temple to buy and sell (Matt. 21:12).
  47. I.e., by the good angels.
  48. Isa. 1:12.
  49. Isa. 1:15.
  50. Ps. 26:4, 5.
  51. Luke 8:18.
  52. XXXI, 7. the fig tree . . . was taken away from the roots] But the fig tree was not taken away (ἀρθείσῃ), it was withered away (ἐξήρανται): Mark 11:21; and Origen says immediately afterwards “so also they were withered.” Emendations suggested are ἀσθείσῃ (from ἄζομαι) Oxford ed.; ξηρανθείσῃ, Anonymous; αὐανθείσῃ, Koetschau. If ἀρθείσῃ was in the original text of the treatise, it may be due to a mistake of the stenographer in taking down Origen’s words; or it may be a slip on the part of Origen, occasioned by the occurrence of ἄρθητι in the following context (Mark 11:23: “Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, ‘Be thou taken up,’” etc.). But Origen discusses fully the incident of the fig tree and its “withering away” in In Matt., XVI, 26 (C.B., XL, 562).
  53. Mark 11:12–14, 21.
  54. XXXI, 7. in church] ἐν ἐκκλησίᾳ, i.e., in assembly, when Christians are gathered together, especially for worship. It is the usage of Paul in I Cor. 11:18; 14:19, 28, 35, and is based on the Old Testament use of qāhāl, “assembly,” “convocation,” of which ἐκκλησία is normally the rendering in the LXX.

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