Abstract

In his treatiseOn Prayer Origen raises and answers four objections against prayer. In this essay I examine the Stoic strategies to which Origen appeals in his attempt to answer them. His defense of the claim that providence and prayer are compatible assumes a standard account of freedom and human agency common among the Stoics of his time. In addition to appealing to the standard compatibilist view of human agency found in the Stoics, Origen’s presentation and response to these questions turns out to be reminiscent of Stoic attempts to resolve those thorny issues surrounding fate presented in the so-called ‘Idle Argument’