On Prayer 20.2
Summary: Hypocrites are actors of righteousness in their own theater; the true worshiper shuts the door of the senses in the inner room of the heart, where the Father and the Son dwell.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:344–345
ἐπιμελῶς δὲ ἀκουστέον τοῦ „φανῶσιν, “ ἐπεὶ οὐδὲν φαινόμενον καλόν ἐστιν, οἱονεὶ δοκήσει ὂν καὶ οὐκ ἀληθῶς καὶ τὴν φαντασίαν πλανῶν ἀλλʼ οὐκ ἀκριβῶς καὶ ἀληθῶς ἐκτυποῦν. ὥσπερ δὲ οἱ ἐν τοῖς θεάτροις δραμάτων τινῶν ὑποκριταὶ οὐχ ὅπερ λέγουσίν εἰσιν, οὐδʼ ὅπερ βλέπονται καθʼ ὃ περίκεινται πρόσωπον τοῦτο τυγχάνουσιν· οὕτως καὶ πάντες οἱ ἐπιμορφάζοντες τῷ δοκεῖν τὴν τοῦ καλοῦ φαντασίαν οὐ δίκαιοι ἀλλʼ ὑποκριταί εἰσι δικαιοσύνης, καὶ αὐτοὶ ἐν ἰδίῳ θεάτρῳ ὑποκρινόμενοι, „ταῖς συναγωγαῖς καὶ ταῖς γωνίαις τῶν πλατειῶν.“ ὁ δὲ μὴ ὑποκριτὴς ἀλλὰ πᾶν τὸ ἀλλότριον ἀποθέμενος, ἐν τῷ παντὸς τοῦ προειρημένου θεάτρου καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν μείζονι ἑαυτὸν ἀρέσκειν εὐτρεπίζων, εἰσέρχεται εἰς τὸ ἑαυτοῦ „ταμεῖον, “ ἐπὶ τοῦ ἐναποτεθησαυρισμένου πλούτου τὸν „τῆς σοφίας καὶ γνώσεως“ θησαυρὸν ἑαυτῷ ἀποκλείσας· καὶ μηδαμῶς ἔξω νεύων μηδὲ περὶ τὰ ἔξω κεχηνὼς πᾶσάν τε „τὴν θύραν“ τῶν αἰσθητηρίων ἀποκλείσας, ἵνα μὴ ἕλκηται ὑπὸ τῶν αἰσθήσεων μηδὲ ἐκείνων ἡ φαντασία τῷ νῷ αὐτοῦ ἐπεισκρίνηται, προσεύχεται τῷ τὸ τοιοῦτον κρυπτὸν μὴ φεύγοντι μηδὲ ἐγκαταλείποντι πατρὶ ἀλλʼ ἐν αὐτῷ κατοικοῦντι, συμπαρόντος αὐτῷ καὶ τοῦ μονογενοῦς. ἐγὼ γὰρ, φησὶ, „καὶ ὁ πατὴρ“ „πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλευσόμεθα καὶ μονὴν παρʼ αὐτῷ ποιησόμεθα.“ δῆλον δὲ ὅτι τῷ δικαίῳ, ἐὰν δὴ οὕτως εὐχώμεθα, οὐ μόνον θεῷ ἀλλὰ καὶ πατρὶ ἐντευξόμεθα, ὡς υἱῶν μὴ ἀπολειπομένῳ ἀλλὰ παρόντι ἡμῶν „τῷ κρυπτῷ“ καὶ ἐφορῶντι αὐτὸ καὶ πλείονα τὰ ἐν τῷ ταμείῳ ποιοῦντι, ἐὰν αὐτοῦ „τὴν θύραν“ ἀποκλείσωμεν.
English · Claude translation
The word “be seen” must be listened to carefully, since nothing that merely appears is good, being as it were in seeming and not in truth, deceiving the imagination and not reproducing things accurately and truly. Just as actors of certain plays in the theaters are not what they say, nor are they the character whose mask they wear and are seen to be; so all who put on the appearance of the good in seeming are not righteous but actors of righteousness, and they too play their parts in their own theater, “the synagogues and the street corners.” But the one who is not an actor, but has put off everything alien, and prepares himself to please in a theater exceedingly greater than all those mentioned, enters into his own “inner room,” shutting himself in with the treasure “of wisdom and knowledge” in the riches stored up there; and not leaning outward at all, nor gaping at the things outside, and having shut every “door” of the senses, so that he may not be drawn by the senses nor their images intrude into his mind, he prays to the Father who does not flee nor forsake such a secret place but dwells in it, with the Only-begotten present with him. “I,” he says, “and the Father will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” And it is clear that if we pray in this way, we shall make intercession with the righteous one not only as God but as Father, who does not abandon his sons but is present in our “secret place” and watches over it and increases what is in the inner room, if we shut its “door.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The Greek ὑποκριτής means “actor,” and Origen develops the image. The quotations and allusions are Matt 6:5–6, Col 2:3, and John 14:23.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 20.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/20/2/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 20.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/20/2/).
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