On Prayer 25.2
Summary: We keep praying “hallowed be your name” and “your kingdom come” because we grow toward perfection only by degrees, until God is all in all.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:357–358
ἀλλʼ ἐρεῖ τις πρὸς ἀμφότερα, τό τε „ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου“ καὶ τὸ „ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου, “ ὅτι, εἰ ὁ εὐχόμενος ἐπὶ τῷ ἐπακούεσθαι εὔχεται καὶ ἐπακούεταί ποτε, δηλονότι ἁγιασθήσεταί ποτε τινὶ κατὰ τὰ προειρημένα „τὸ ὄνομα“ τοῦ θεοῦ, ᾧ καὶ „ἡ βασιλεία“ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐνστήσεται. εἰ δὲ ταῦτʼ αὐτῷ ἔσται, πῶς ἔτι καθηκόντως εὔξεται περὶ τῶν παρόντων ἤδη ὡς μὴ παρόντων λέγων· „ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου“; εἰ δὲ τοῦτο, ἔσται ποτὲ καθῆκον μὴ λέγειν· „ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου.“ λεκτέον πρὸς ταῦτα ὅτι, ὥσπερ ὁ εὐχόμενος λόγου „γνώσεως“ τυχεῖν καὶ λόγου „σοφίας“ καθηκόντως ἀεὶ περὶ τούτων εὔξεται, ἀεὶ μὲν πλείονα θεωρήματα „σοφίας“ καὶ „γνώσεως“ ἐν τῷ ἐπακούεσθαι ληψόμενος, πλὴν „ἐκ μέρους“ γινώσκων μὲν ὅσα ποτʼ ἂν χωρῆσαι ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος δυνηθῇ, τοῦ (δὲ) τελείου καὶ καταργοῦντος „τὸ ἐκ μέρους“ „τότε“ φανερωθησομένου, ὅτε „πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον“ ὁ νοῦς προσβάλλει χωρὶς αἰσθήσεως τοῖς νοητοῖς· οὕτως „τὸ τέλειον“ τοῦ ἁγιασθῆναι ἑκάστῳ ἡμῶν „τὸ ὄνομα“ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ ἐνστῆναι αὐτοῦ τὴν βασιλείαν οὐχ οἷόν τε ἐστὶν, ἐὰν μὴ „ἔλθῃ“ καὶ „τὸ“ περὶ τῆς „γνώσεως“ καὶ „σοφίας“ „τέλειον“ τάχα δὲ καὶ τῶν λοιπῶν ἀρετῶν. ὁδεύομεν δὲ ἐπὶ τὴν τελειότητα, ἐὰν „τοῖς“ „ἔμπροσθεν“ ἐπεκτεινόμενοι τῶν ὄπισθεν ἐπιλανθανώμεθα. τῇ οὖν ἐν ἡμῖν βασιλείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ ἡ ἀκρότης ἀδιαλείπτως προκόπτουσιν ἐνστήσεται, ὅταν πληρωθῇ τὸ παρὰ τῷ ἀποστόλῳ εἰρημένον, ὅτι ὁ Χριστὸς, πάντων αὐτῷ τῶν ἐχθρῶν ὑποταγέντων, παραδώσει „τὴν βασιλείαν τῷ θεῷ καὶ πατρὶ, “ „ἵνα ᾖ ὁ θεὸς τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσι.“ διὰ τοῦτο „ἀδιαλείπτως“ προσευχόμενοι μετὰ διαθέσεως τῷ λόγῳ θεοποιουμένης λέγωμεν τῷ ἐν οὐρανοῖς πατρὶ ἡμῶν· „ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου· ἐλθέτω ἡ βασιλεία σου.“
English · Claude translation
But someone will say, about both “Hallowed be your name” and “Your kingdom come,” that if the one who prays prays in order to be heard, and is at some time heard, then clearly the “name” of God will at some time be hallowed for someone, in the sense explained, and “the kingdom” of God will be established for him. And if he has these things, how will he still properly pray for what is already present as though it were not present, saying, “Hallowed be your name; your kingdom come”? And if so, it will at some time be proper not to say, “Hallowed be your name; your kingdom come.” To this it must be said that, just as the one who prays to obtain the word “of knowledge” and the word “of wisdom” will always properly pray for these, always receiving more insights of “wisdom” and “knowledge” when he is heard, though knowing “in part” whatever he can contain for the present, while the perfect, which does away with what is “in part,” will be revealed “then,” when the mind meets intelligible things “face to face,” without sense-perception; so the perfection of the hallowing of God's “name” for each of us, and of the establishing of his kingdom, is not possible unless “the perfect” also “comes” concerning “knowledge” and “wisdom,” and perhaps also the other virtues. And we travel toward perfection if, “straining forward to what lies ahead,” we forget what lies behind. So the summit of the kingdom of God within us will be established for those who make progress without ceasing, when what is said by the apostle is fulfilled: that Christ, when all his enemies have been subjected to him, will hand over “the kingdom to God the Father,” “so that God may be all in all.” Therefore, praying “without ceasing” with a disposition being made divine by the Word, let us say to our Father in heaven: “Hallowed be your name; your kingdom come.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are 1 Cor 12:8, 1 Cor 13:9–12, Phil 3:13, 1 Cor 15:24–28, and 1 Thess 5:17. “Being made divine by the Word” (θεοποιουμένης) reflects Origen's teaching on deification.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 25.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/25/2/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 25.2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/25/2/).
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