On Prayer
Origen, tr. Oulton, 1954
Thus, according to my ability, I have wrestled with the problem of prayer, and the prayer…
Conclusion
Chapter XXXIV
Thus, according to my ability, I have wrestled with the problem of prayer, and the prayer that is found in the Gospels,1 and the preceding context in Matthew,2 on your behalf,34 my very studious5 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,”6 and pray for us7 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 matters8 with greater breadth and elevation and clarity. For the present, however, you will read this book with indulgence.
Notes
- Matt. 6:9–13; Luke 11:2–4.
- Matt. 6:5–8.
- Reading ὑμῖν.
- XXXIV. on your behalf] If this reading is correct, it refers more particularly to Origen’s answer to “the problem of prayer” which had been posed to him by his two friends (V, 6). That Origen, however, gave the subject a much wider treatment than “the problem” demanded, may suggest that he felt his friends needed to be brought on much further on the whole subject and practice of prayer. This may also be suggested in the quotation from Phil. 3:13 which follows.
- XXXIV. very studious] Lit. “very fond of learning,” an epithet that was certainly deserved by Ambrose. See Introduction, p. 182.
- Phil. 3:13.
- XXXIV. pray for us] With a Christian tactfulness worthy of Paul, Origen gives the impression that it is he who needs his friends’ prayers.
- XXXIV. to treat again of these matters] We have no reason to think that Origen ever wrote again specifically on the subject of prayer. The De Oratione was in fact no mean contribution to it, and was much fuller than the treatises of Tertullian and of Cyprian which preceded and followed it, in point of time. The apologetic tone of the concluding words: “you will read this book with indulgence,” if not merely a conventional phrase, may point to the haste, and consequent defects in arrangement, of which Origen was conscious as he surveyed his completed task.