Early Christian period · Patristic treatise

On Prayer, §32: The Direction of Prayer

Origen of Alexandria · Early third century CE

Reference De oratione §32 (eastward prayer; numbering varies by edition)

Edition Origen, De oratione §32; consult Greek text and manuscript/edition details in the linked primary-source record. English: independent working translation for this archive (2026).

Text status Complete designated passage

Rights Ancient Greek text is public domain. English here is an original editorial working translation; not a certified critical translation.

Full designated passage — editorial working translation

English · working translation (2026)

Something further must be said concerning the direction toward which one should look while praying. There are four directions—north, south, west, and east. Who would not immediately acknowledge that the east visibly signifies the propriety of praying in that direction, with the soul turning in symbol toward the rising of the true light?

If someone wishes instead to direct petitions toward an open doorway of the house, wherever its doors happen to face, arguing that the sight of the sky invites prayer more than the sight of a wall when the eastern side of the building has no opening, one must answer that human buildings face this or that direction by arrangement, whereas the east is preferred by nature. What belongs to nature is to be placed before what is determined merely by arrangement.

And if someone intends to pray in an open field, why should that person, on the same reasoning, face the east rather than the west? If there is good reason to prefer the east there, why should the same preference not apply everywhere? So much for this subject.