Sophia Scriptura

On Prayer 16.2

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

Summary: Bodily blessings follow spiritual gifts like a shadow follows a body; God gives the spiritual gifts, and the earthly ones come with them.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:336–337

πᾶς τοιγαροῦν ὁ „τὰ ἐπίγεια“ καὶ „μικρὰ“ αἰτῶν ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ παρακούει τοῦ ἐντειλαμένου „ἐπουράνια“ καὶ „μεγάλα“ αἰτεῖν ἀπὸ τοῦ μηδὲν ἐπίγειον μηδὲ μικρὸν χαρίζεσθαι ἐπισταμένου θεοῦ. ἐὰν δέ τις ἀνθυποφέρῃ τὰ κατὰ τὸ σωματικὸν ἐκ προσευχῆς τοῖς ἁγίοις δωρηθέντα ἀλλὰ καὶ τὴν τοῦ εὐαγγελίου φωνὴν, διδάσκοντος „τὰ ἐπίγεια“ ἡμῖν προστίθεσθαι καὶ „τὰ μικρὰ, “ ἀπαντητέον πρὸς αὐτὸν ὅτι, ὥσπερ οὐ λεκτέον, δωρουμένου τινὸς ἡμῖν ὅ τι δή ποτε σῶμα, ὅτι ὁ δεῖνα τὴν σκιὰν ἡμῖν τοῦ σώματος ἐδωρήσατο (οὐ γὰρ προθέμενος δύο τινὰ χαρίσασθαι, σῶμα καὶ σκιὰν, δέδωκε τὸ σῶμα. ἀλλʼ ἡ πρόθεσις τοῦ διδόντος ἐστὶ διδόναι σῶμα, ἐπακολουθεῖ δὲ τῇ δόσει τοῦ σώματος καὶ τὸ τὴν σκιὰν αὐτοῦ ἡμᾶς λαβεῖν), οὕτως, εἰ μεγαλοφυεστέρῳ γενομένῳ ἡμῶν τῷ νῷ κατανοήσαιμεν τὰς προηγουμένως ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῖν διδομένας δωρεὰς. οἰκειότατα ἐροῦμεν παρακολουθήματα τῶν μεγάλων καὶ ἐπουρανίων πνευματικῶν χαρισμάτων εἶναι τὰ σωματικὰ, „ἑκάστῳ“ διδόμενα τῶν ἁγίων „πρὸς τὸ συμφέρον“ ἢ „κατʼ ἀναλογίαν τῆς πίστεως“ ἢ „καθὼς βούλεται“ ὁ διδούς· βούλεται δὲ σοφῶς, εἰ καὶ ἡμεῖς μὴ δυνάμεθα ἑκάστῳ τῶν διδομένων αἰτίαν καὶ λόγον ἄξιον τοῦ διδόντος εἰπεῖν.

English · Claude translation

Everyone, therefore, who asks God for “earthly” and “small” things disobeys the one who commanded us to ask for “heavenly” and “great” things from God, who knows how to grant nothing earthly or small. And if someone objects with the bodily gifts given to the saints in answer to prayer, and also with the saying of the gospel that teaches that “earthly” and “small” things are added to us, we must answer him thus. Just as, when someone gives us some body, it must not be said that so-and-so has given us the shadow of the body (for he did not intend to grant two things, a body and a shadow, when he gave the body; the intention of the giver is to give a body, but along with the gift of the body it follows that we also receive its shadow); so, if with a mind grown nobler we consider the gifts given us by God in the principal sense, we shall say that bodily things are most fittingly consequences of the great and heavenly spiritual gifts, given “to each” of the saints “for the common good,” or “in proportion to faith,” or “as” the giver “wills.” And he wills wisely, even if we cannot give, for each of the gifts, a cause and reason worthy of the giver.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:336–337 · 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

Notes

Translation notes

  • The allusions are to the unwritten saying of Jesus quoted in 2.2 and 14.1, and to 1 Cor 12:7, Rom 12:6, and 1 Cor 12:11.

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 16.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/16/2/).

Plain text
Origen, Or. 16.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/16/2/).

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