Sophia Scriptura

On Prayer 15.2

Origen · On Prayer · ca. 233–234 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Prayer is to be addressed to the Father, but always through and in the name of Jesus, as he taught.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:334–335

εὐχαριστοῦντες οὖν οἱ ἅγιοι ἐν ταῖς προσευχαῖς ἑαυτῶν τῷ θεῷ διὰ χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ χάριτας ὁμολογοῦσιν αὐτῷ. ὥσπερ δὲ τὸν ἀκριβοῦντα τὸ προσεύχεσθαι οὐ χρὴ τῷ εὐχομένῳ προσεύχεσθαι ἀλλὰ τῷ ὃν ἐδίδαξεν ἐπὶ τῶν εὐχῶν καλεῖν πατρὶ ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦς, οὕτως οὐ χωρὶς αὐτοῦ προσευχήν τινα προσενεκτέον τῷ πατρὶ, ὡς αὐτὸς τοῦτο παραδείκνυσι σαφῶς οὕτω λέγων· „ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ἄν τι αἰτήσητε τὸν πατέρα μου, δώσει ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου. ἕως ἄρτι οὐκ ᾐτήσατε οὐδὲν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου· αἰτεῖτε, καὶ λήψεσθε, ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν ᾖ πεπληρωμένη.“ οὐ γὰρ εἶπεν· „αἰτεῖτέ“ με οὐδὲ „αἰτεῖτε“ „τὸν πατέρα“ ἁπλῶς ἀλλά· „ἐάν τι αἰτήσητε τὸν πατέρα, δώσει ὑμῖν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου.“ ἕως γὰρ ἐδίδαξε ταῦτα ὁ Ἰησοῦς, οὐδεὶς ᾐτήκει „τὸν πατέρα“ „ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι“ τοῦ υἱοῦ· καὶ ἀληθὲς ἦν ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ λεγόμενον τὸ „ἕως ἄρτι οὐκ ᾐτήσατε οὐδὲν ἐν τῷ ὀνόματί μου.“ ἀληθὲς δὲ καὶ τὸ „αἰτεῖτε, καὶ λήψεσθε. ἵνα ἡ χαρὰ ὑμῶν ᾖ πεπληρωμένη.“

English · Claude translation

So the saints, giving thanks in their prayers to God through Christ Jesus, acknowledge their gratitude to him. And just as one who is exact about prayer ought not to pray to the one who prays, but to the Father whom our Lord Jesus taught us to call upon in prayer, so no prayer should be offered to the Father without him, as he himself clearly shows when he says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything, he will give it to you in my name. Until now you have asked nothing in my name; ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” For he did not say, “Ask me,” nor simply “Ask the Father,” but, “If you ask the Father for anything, he will give it to you in my name.” For until Jesus taught these things, no one had asked “the Father” “in the name” of the Son; and what Jesus said was true, “Until now you have asked nothing in my name.” And true also is, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:334–335 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 2: Buch V–VIII gegen Celsus, Die Schrift vom Gebet, GCS 3 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899), 297–403 · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 2 (GCS 3, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0
Text
As printed in Koetschau, GCS 3. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.
Translation
Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 3; made independently of existing English translations. No public-domain English translation exists; reviewed against the Greek.
Scripture
Topics
Prayer, Christology, Trinity

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are John 16:23–24.

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 15.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/15/2/).

Plain text
Origen, Or. 15.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/15/2/).

Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)

Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text

Report an error in this passage