On Prayer

Origen, tr. Oulton, 1954

What we have said must be proved from the divine Scriptures on this manner. He who prays …

What we have said must be proved from the divine Scriptures on this manner. He who prays ought to “lift up holy hands”¹ by forgiving everyone who has sinned against him,² having removed from his soul the feeling of “wrath,”¹ 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.”³⁴ 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 gold⁵ 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.”⁶

The prophet⁷ 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”⁸; and, “Unto thee have I lifted up my soul, O God.”⁹ When the eyes of the understanding are lifted up,¹⁰ 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.”¹¹ For they then partake of a kind of divine spiritual effluence,¹² as is indicated in the words: “the light of thy countenance, O Lord, was signed upon us.”¹³¹⁴ 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”¹⁵—it must needs be that laying aside the nature of a soul it becomes spiritual.¹⁶

And if to bear no malice is the greatest excellence, as would appear from the prophet Jeremiah,¹⁷ 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,”¹⁸ “Let no one bear malice against his” neighbour “in” his “heart”¹⁹; and if putting aside such malice in coming to prayer²⁰ we observe the commandment of the Saviour, when he says, “If ye stand praying,²¹ forgive, if ye have aught against anyone,”²² it is clear that in so doing, as we stand to pray, we have already obtained the greatest blessings.

Notes

I Tim. 2:8.
Cf. Matt. 6:12, 14; Luke 11:4.
I Tim. 2:8.
IX, 1. “disputings”] Here and In Joh., XXVIII, 5, and In Jerem. hom., V, 9, Frag. no. lxviii (C.B., VI, 39, 231) Origen quotes I Tim. 2:8 with the plural (διαλογισμῶν), as vouched for by the corrector of ℵ, and Bohairic and Syriac versions and other authorities. In De Orat., II, 2, and XXXI, 1, he reads the singular.
IX, 1. “and gold”] Twice in this section, in quoting I Tim. 2:9, Origen reads καὶ χρυσῷ. Variant readings are ἤ for καὶ and χρυσίῳ (“wrought gold”) for χρυσῷ.
I Tim. 2:9, 10.
Cf. Acts 2:30.
Ps. 123:1.
Ps. 25:1, 2.
IX, 2. When the eyes of the understanding are lifted up, etc.] This eloquent passage is paralleled, though not equalled, in In Joh., XXVIII, 4, and contra Celsum, VII, 44 (end). Cf. also Clement of Alexandria, Strom., VII, 3:13.
II Cor. 3:18.
IX, 2. they partake of a kind of divine spiritual effluence] See XIX, 3, note.
Ps. 4:6.
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.
Ps. 25:1.
IX, 2. laying aside the nature of a soul it becomes spiritual] So also in In Joh., I, 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.
Cf. Jer. 7:22, 23.
Zech. 7:10.
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. “If ye stand praying”] See note on II, 2.
Mark 11:25.