Sophia Scriptura

On Prayer 29.8

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

Summary: Honor among men is also a temptation, leading the high born to pride and the low born to flattery that counterfeits love.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:385

ἀλλʼ οἴεταί τις ἀναπαύεσθαι ὡς μὴ πειραζόμενος, ὅτε δεδόξασται παρὰ τοῖς ἀνθρώποις· καὶ πῶς οὐ χαλεπὸν τὸ „ἀπέχουσι τὸν μισθὸν“ ἀπὸ „τῶν ἀνθρώπων, “ ἀπαγγελλόμενον τοῖς ἐπαιρομένοις ὡς ἐπʼ ἀγαθῷ τῇ παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς δόξῃ; πῶς δʼ οὐκ ἐπιπληκτικὸν τὸ „πῶς δύνασθε ὑμεῖς πιστεῦσαι, δόξαν παρʼ ἀλλήλων λαμβάνοντες, καὶ τὴν δόξαν τὴν παρὰ τοῦ μόνου θεοῦ οὐ ζητεῖτε;“ καὶ τί με δεῖ καταλέγειν τὰ τῶν νομιζομένων εὐγενῶν ἐν ὑπερηφανίᾳ πταίσματα καὶ τῶν λεγομένων δυσγενῶν διὰ τὸ ἀνεπίστημον τὴν πρὸς τοὺς ὑπερέχειν νομιζομένους ὑπόπτωσιν θωπευτικὴν, ἀφιστᾶσαν θεοῦ τοὺς γνησίαν μὲν φιλίαν οὐκ ἔχοντας τὸ δὲ κάλλιστον τῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις. τὴν ἀγάπην, ὑποκρινομένους;

English · Claude translation

But someone thinks he is at rest, as not being tempted, when he is honored among men. And how is the saying, “They have their reward” from “men,” not severe, when it is proclaimed to those who are elated by the glory they have among the many as though it were a good? And how is this not a rebuke: “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” And why need I list the faults of pride among those thought well born, and, among those called low born, the flattering servility, through ignorance, toward those thought superior, which separates from God those who have no genuine friendship but feign the best of things among men, love?

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:385 · 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; 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, Ethics

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Matt 6:2 (6:5) and John 5:44.

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 29.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/29/8/).

Plain text
Origen, Or. 29.8 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/29/8/).

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