Sophia Scriptura

On Prayer 9.3

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

Summary: Coming to prayer free of grudges, as the prophet and Jesus command, already gives us the best of gifts.

Greek text · Koetschau 2:319

εἰ δὲ μέγιστόν ἐστι κατόρθωμα ἀμνησικακία ὡς κατὰ τὸν προφήτην Ἱερεμίαν. πάντα ἀνακεφαλαιοῦσθαι τὸν νόμον ἐν αὐτῷ λέγοντα· „οὐ ταῦτα ἐνετειλάμην τοῖς πατράσιν ὑμῶν ἐκπορευομένων αὐτῶν ἐκ τῆς Αἰγύπτου, ἀλλὰ τοῦτο ἐνετειλάμην· ἕκαστος τῷ πλησίον ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ μὴ μνησικακείτω.“ ἀπὸ μνησικακίας δὲ ἥκοντες ἐπὶ τὸ εὔχεσθαι τὴν τοῦ σωτῆρος φυλάσσομεν ἐντολὴν, λέγοντος· „ἐὰν στήκητε προσευχόμενοι. ἀφίετε εἴ τι ἔχετε κατά τινος, “ δῆλον ὅτι τοιοῦτοι ἱστάμενοι πρὸς τὸ εὔξασθαι τὰ κάλλιστα ἤδη κεκτήμεθα.

English · Claude translation

And if not bearing grudges is a very great virtue—so much so that according to the prophet Jeremiah the whole law is summed up in it, when he says, “I did not command these things to your fathers when they came out of Egypt, but this I commanded: let no one bear a grudge in his heart against his neighbor”—then, coming to prayer free of grudges, we keep the command of the Savior, who says, “Whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone”; clearly, standing to pray in such a state, we already possess the best things.

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 2:319 · 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 first quotation combines Jer 7:22–23 with Zech 7:10 (compare Zech 8:17); Origen attributes it to Jeremiah. The second is Mark 11:25.

Cite this passage

Origen, Or. 9.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/9/3/).

Plain text
Origen, Or. 9.3 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/9/3/).

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