On Prayer 2.4
Summary: The mind cannot pray rightly unless the Spirit prays first; so a disciple, though trained in Jewish prayer, asked Jesus to teach them to pray as John had.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:301–303
ἐχόμενον δὲ τοῦ τί δὲ δεῖ προσεύξασθαι „καθὸ δεῖ οὐκ οἴδαμεν. ἀλλὰ τὸ πνεῦμα στεναγμοῖς ἀλαλήτοις ὑπερεντυγχάνει τῷ θεῷ“ τὸ „προσεύξομαι τῷ πνεύματι, προσεύξομαι δὲ καὶ τῷ νοΐ· ψαλῶ τῷ πνεύματι, ψαλῶ (δὲ) καὶ τῷ νοΐ.“ οὐδὲ γὰρ δύναται ἡμῶν ὁ νοῦς προσεύξασθαι, ἐὰν μὴ πρὸ αὐτοῦ τὸ πνεῦμα προσεύξηται οἱονεὶ ἐν ὑπηκόῳ αὐτοῦ, ὥσπερ οὐδὲ ψᾶλαι καὶ εὐρύθμως καὶ ἐμμελῶς καὶ ἐμμέτρως καὶ συμφώνως ὑμνῆσαι τὸν πατέρα ἐν Χριστῷ, ἐὰν μὴ „τὸ πνεῦμα“ τὸ „πάντα“ ἐρευνῶν, „καὶ τὰ βάθη τοῦ θεοῦ, “ πρότερον αἰνέσῃ καὶ ὑμνήσῃ τοῦτον, οὗ „τὰ βάθη“ ἠρεύνηκε καὶ, ὡς ἐξίσχυσε, κατείληφεν. ἐγὼ δὲ οἴομαι συναισθόμενόν τινα τῶν τοῦ Ἰησοῦ μαθητῶν τῆς ἀνθρωπίνης ἀσθενείας, ἀπολειπομένης τοῦ ὃν τρόπον εὔχεσθαι δεῖ, καὶ μάλιστα τοῦτʼ ἐγνωκότα, ὅτε ἐπιστημόνων καὶ μεγάλων λόγων ἤκουεν ἀπαγγελλομένων ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος ἐν τῇ πρὸς τὸν πατέρα εὐχῇ, παυσαμένῳ τοῦ προσεύχεσθαι τῷ κυρίῳ εἰρηκέναι· „κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξε τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ.“ ὅλος δὲ ὁ εἱρμὸς τοῦ ῥητοῦ οὕτως ἔχει· „καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ εἶναι αὐτὸν προσευχόμενον ἐν τόπῳ τινὶ, ὡς ἐπαύσατο, εἶπέ τις τῶν μαθητῶν αὐτοῦ πρὸς αὐτόν· κύριε, δίδαξον ἡμᾶς προσεύχεσθαι, καθὼς καὶ Ἰωάννης ἐδίδαξε προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς μαθητὰς αὐτοῦ“......... ἆρα γὰρ ἄνθρωπος, ἐντεθραμμένος τῇ νομικῇ κατηχήσει καὶ τῇ ἀκροάσει τῶν προφητικῶν λόγων τῶν τε συναγωγῶν μὴ ἀπολειπόμενος, οὐκ ἠπίστατο ὁπωσδήποτε εὔχεσθαι, μέχρις οὗ ἴδῃ τὸν κύριον εὐχόμενον „ἐν τόπῳ τινί;“ ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἄτοπον φάσκειν· ηὔχετο μὲν γὰρ κατὰ τὰ Ἰουδαίων ἔθη, ἑώρα δὲ μείζονος ἐπιστήμης ἑαυτὸν δεόμενον εἰς τὸν περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς τόπον. τί δὲ καὶ ὁ „Ἰωάννης ἐδίδασκε τοὺς μαθητὰς“ περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς, ἀπὸ Ἱεροσολύμων καὶ πάσης τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ τῆς περιχώρου ἐρχομένους βαπτίζεσθαι πρὸς αὐτὸν, εἰ μή τινα κατὰ τὸ „περισσότερον“ εἶναι „προφήτου“ ἔβλεπε περὶ τῆς εὐχῆς, ἅπερ εἰκὸς ὅτι οὐ πᾶσι τοῖς βαπτιζομένοις ἀλλὰ τοῖς πρὸς τὸ βαπτίζεσθαι μαθητευομένοις ἐν ἀποῤῥήτῳ παρεδίδου;
English · Claude translation
Connected with “what we ought to pray for as we ought, we do not know, but the Spirit intercedes exceedingly with God with groanings too deep for words” is the saying, “I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the mind also; I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the mind also.” For our mind cannot pray unless the Spirit prays before it, as it were within its hearing, just as it cannot sing and hymn the Father in Christ with good rhythm, melody, measure, and harmony unless “the Spirit” who searches “all things, even the depths of God,” first praises and hymns him whose “depths” he has searched and, as far as he was able, grasped. And I think that one of Jesus' disciples, perceiving the weakness of human nature, which falls short of the way one ought to pray, and knowing this especially when he heard the wise and great words spoken by the Savior in his prayer to the Father, said to the Lord when he had ceased praying: “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” The whole sequence of the passage runs thus: “And it came to pass, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said to him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples to pray” … For did a man brought up in the instruction of the law and the hearing of the prophetic words, and not absent from the synagogues, not know how to pray in some way until he saw the Lord praying “in a certain place”? That would be absurd to say. He prayed according to the customs of the Jews, but he saw that he needed greater knowledge on the subject of prayer. And what was John “teaching his disciples” about prayer, when they came to him to be baptized from Jerusalem and all Judea and the surrounding region, unless as one “more than a prophet” he saw certain things about prayer, which he probably handed on in secret not to all who were baptized but to those who were being made disciples for baptism?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rom 8:26, 1 Cor 14:15, 1 Cor 2:10, Luke 11:1, Matt 3:5, and Matt 11:9. There is a gap in the manuscript after the quotation of Luke 11:1 (marked “…”). That John taught his disciples in secret is Origen's own conjecture (“probably”).
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/2/4/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 2.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/2/4/).
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