On Prayer 31.3
Summary: Kneeling is fitting when confessing sins; the “bowing of every knee” in heaven and earth to Jesus must be understood spiritually, since heavenly beings do not have bodily knees.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:396–397
καὶ ἡ γονυκλισία δὲ ὅτι ἀναγκαία ἐστὶν, ὅτε τις μέλλει τῶν ἰδίων ἐπὶ θεοῦ ἁμαρτημάτων κατηγορεῖν, ἱκετεύων περὶ τῆς ἐπὶ τούτοις ἰάσεως καὶ τῆς ἀφέσεως αὐτῶν, εἰδέναι χρὴ ὅτι σύμβολον τυγχάνει τοῦ ὑποπεπτωκότος καὶ ὑποτεταγμένου, Παύλου λέγοντος· „τούτου χάριν κάμπτω τὰ γόνατά μου πρὸς τὸν πατέρα, ἐξ οὗ πᾶσα πατριὰ ἐν οὐρανοῖς καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς ὀνομάζεται.“ τὴν δὲ νοητὴν γονυκλισίαν, οὕτως ὀνομαζομένην παρὰ τὸ ὑποπεπτωκέναι τῷ θεῷ „ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ“ [καὶ] ἕκαστον τῶν ὄντων (καὶ) αὐτῷ ἑαυτὸν τεταπεινωκέναι, δηλοῦν μοι ὁ ἀπόστολος φαίνεται ἐν τῷ „ἵνα ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψῃ ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων.“ ἐσχηματίσθαι γὰρ τῶν ἐπουρανίων τὰ σώματα, ὡς καὶ γόνατα σωματικὰ ἔχειν αὐτὰ, ὑπολαμβάνειν οὐ πάνυ τι χρὴ, σφαιροειδῶν παρὰ τοῖς ἀκριβῶς περὶ τούτων διειληφόσιν ἀποδεδειγμένων αὐτῶν τῶν σωμάτων. ὁ δὲ μὴ βουλόμενος τοῦτο παραδέξασθαι, καὶ τὰς χρείας ἑκάστου τῶν μελῶν. ἵνα μὴ μάτην ᾖ τι δεδημιουργημένον αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐὰν μὴ ἀναιδεύηται πρὸς τὸν λόγον, παραδέξεται, ἑκατέρωθεν πταίων, εἴτε φήσει μέλη σώματος μάτην καὶ μὴ ἐπὶ τῷ ἰδίῳ ἔργῳ γεγονέναι αὐτοῖς ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, εἴτε ἐρεῖ τὰ ἔγκατα καὶ τὸ ἀπευθυσμένον ἔντερον τὰς ἰδίας χρείας ἐπιτελεῖν καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις. σφόδρα δὲ μωρῶς ἀναστραφήσεται, ἐὰν τρόπον ἀνδριάντων τις νομίζῃ τὴν μὲν ἐπιφάνειαν μόνην εἶναι ἀνθρωποειδῆ οὐκέτι δὲ καὶ τὰ ἐν βάθει. ταῦτα δέ μοι λέγεται ἐξετάζοντι τὴν γονυκλισίαν καὶ ὁρῶντι ὅτι „ἐν τῷ ὀνόματι Ἰησοῦ πᾶν γόνυ κάμψει ἐπουρανίων καὶ ἐπιγείων καὶ καταχθονίων.“ ἀλλὰ καὶ τὸ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ γεγραμμένον· „ἐμοὶ κάμψει πᾶν γόνυ“ ταὐτόν ἐστι.
English · Claude translation
And one must know that kneeling is necessary when one is about to accuse oneself of one's own sins before God, entreating for healing from them and for their forgiveness, since it is a symbol of one who has fallen down and submitted, as Paul says: “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named.” And spiritual kneeling, so called because every being has fallen down before God “in the name of Jesus” and humbled itself before him, the apostle seems to me to indicate in the words, “that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” For we must certainly not suppose that the bodies of the heavenly beings are so shaped as to have bodily knees, since their bodies have been shown to be spherical by those who have treated these matters exactly. And whoever does not wish to accept this will also accept, unless he is shameless against reason, the uses of each of the members, so that nothing may have been made for them by God in vain; stumbling either way, whether he says that members of the body were made for them by God in vain and not for their proper function, or says that the entrails and the rectum perform their proper functions even in the heavenly beings. And he will behave very foolishly if he thinks that, like statues, only the surface is human in shape, but not what is within. These things I say as I examine kneeling and see that “in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth.” And what is written in the prophet, “To me every knee shall bow,” is the same.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Eph 3:14–15, Phil 2:10, and Isa 45:23. That the heavenly bodies (the stars) are spherical was the view of Greek astronomy; Origen held that the stars are rational beings (see 7.1). The argument about bodily members answers those who imagined heavenly beings in human form. The editor deletes a καί (“and”) after “in the name of Jesus.”
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 31.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/31/3/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 31.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/31/3/).
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