On Prayer 29.7 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Koetschau 2:384–385

ἀλλὰ ὑγιαίνων τῷ σώματι καὶ εὐεκτῶν ἔξω παντὸς πειρασμοῦ κατʼ αὐτὸ τὸ ὑγιαίνειν καὶ εὐεκτεῖν ὑπολαμβάνει τυγχάνειν· καὶ τίνων ἄλλων ἢ τῶν εὐεκτούντων καὶ ὑγιαινόντων ἐστὶν ἁμάρτημα τὸ φθείρειν „τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, “ οὐ τολμήσει τις διὰ τὸ ἐκκεῖσθαι πᾶσι σαφῶς τὰ κατὰ τὸν τόπον εἰπεῖν. νοσῶν δὲ τίς τοὺς εἰς τὸ φθείρειν „τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ“ [τίς] ἐρεθισμοὺς ἐκπέφευγε, σχολάζων κατʼ ἐκεῖνο καιροῦ καὶ πάνυ τι δεχόμενος τοὺς περὶ τῶν ἀκαθάρτων πραγμάτων λογισμούς; ἀλλʼ ὅσα παρὰ τούτους ταράττει αὐτὸν, ἐὰν μὴ „πάσῃ φυλακῇ“ τηρῇ τὴν „καρδίαν, “ τί δεῖ καὶ λέγειν; πολλοὶ γὰρ ὑπὸ τῶν πόνων νικώμενοι καὶ ἀνδρείως νόσους φέρειν οὐκ ἐπιστάμενοι μᾶλλον τὴν ψυχὴν ἠλέγχθησαν τότε νενοσηκότες ἢ τὰ σώματα· πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ διὰ τὸ φεύγειν τὴν ἀδοξίαν, ἐπαισχυνόμενοι τὸ Χριστοῦ εὐγενῶς ὄνομα φέρειν, εἰς αἰσχύνην αἰώνιον καταπεπτώκασιν.

English · Claude translation

But someone who is healthy and robust in body supposes that he is outside all temptation by the very fact of being healthy and robust. Yet of whom else but the robust and healthy is the sin of destroying “the temple of God”? No one will dare to say more, since what concerns this passage is plain to all. And who, when sick, has escaped the incitements to destroying “the temple of God,” being at leisure at that time and quite open to thoughts of unclean things? And why need I speak of all the other things that trouble him besides these, unless he keeps his “heart” “with all vigilance”? For many, overcome by pains and not knowing how to bear sickness bravely, were then shown to be sick in soul rather than in body; and many, through avoiding dishonor and being ashamed to bear the name of Christ nobly, have fallen into everlasting shame.

About this passage

Source

Koetschau 2:384–385 · 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; the problem in this passage is discussed in the notes.

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

1 Cor 3:17 · quotation, high confidence
1 Cor 6:19 · allusion, medium confidence
Prov 4:23 · quotation, high confidence
Dan 12:2 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Prayer, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

The quotations and allusions are 1 Cor 3:17 (sins against the body, especially sexual sins, compare 1 Cor 6:18–19), Prov 4:23, and Dan 12:2. The editor deletes a repeated τίς (“who”).

Notes on the original text

Digital text corrected (stray punctuation mark in the digital text): κατὰ τὸν. τόπον → κατὰ τὸν τόπον.

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 29.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/29/7/).

Plain text

Origen, Or. 29.7 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/29/7/).