Texts in Conversation
Clement of Alexandria attacks the followers of Prodicus for teaching that there is no need to pray. Jesus in the Gospel of Thomas goes further still and calls prayer harmful, warning that those who pray will be condemned.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Gospel of Thomas 1:14
Nag Hammadi
13 Jesus said to his disciples, “Compare me and tell me whom I am like.” Simon Peter said to him, “You are like a righteous messenger.” Matthew said to him, “You are like a wise philosopher.” Thomas said to him, “Teacher, my mouth is utterly unable to say whom you are like.” Jesus said, “I am not your teacher. Because you have drunk, you have become intoxicated from the bubbling spring I have measured out.” And he took him and withdrew and spoke three sayings to him. When Thomas returned to his companions, they asked him, “What did Jesus say to you?” Thomas said to them, “If I tell you even one of the sayings he spoke to me, you will pick up stones and throw them at me, and fire will come out of the stones and burn you up.” 14 Jesus said to them, “If you fast, you will bring sin upon yourselves; if you pray, you will be condemned; if you give alms, you will do harm to your spirits. When you go into any land and travel about in the countryside, if they receive you, eat what they set before you and heal the sick among them. For what goes into your mouth will not defile you; rather, what comes out of your mouth is what will defile you.” 15 Jesus said, “When you see one who was not born of woman, fall on your faces and worship him; that one is your Father.”
Clement of Alexandria, Stromata 7.7.39
Early Christian
But the distribution of the hours into a threefold division, honoured with as many prayers, those are acquainted with, who know the blessed triad of the holy abodes. Having got to this point, I recollect the doctrines about there being no necessity to pray, introduced by certain of the heterodox, that is, the followers of the heresy of Prodicus. That they may not then be inflated with conceit about this godless wisdom of theirs, as if it were strange, let them learn that it was embraced before by the philosophers called Cyrenaics.
Date: 195 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... This saying is almost without parallel in the intensity of its criticism of traditional Jewish practices. As Gianotto has put it, Thomas is ‘totalement négative’ towards prayer, alms and fasting because they are not merely useless but harmful. (In this respect, GTh 14 is different from GTh 6, where this is not stated.) Marjanen provides a helpful spectrum of second-century views of Jewish practices, from observance, to modification of detail, to complete reconceptualisation, to rejection (as well as silence). On the spectrum of second-century views of such things, this lies at the extreme negative end, with Prodicus who rejected prayer (Strom. 7.7.41), and probably the attitude to prayer in the Gospel of Philip. Even next to these, however, Thomas goes further in describing such practices as harmful. [...] Thus Segelberg sees the claim of Clement about Prodicus supported by Thomas and the Gospel of Philip (‘Prayer among the Gnostics?’, 68). [...] Loader notes the possibility that it is only particular forms of prayer which are rejected, but Thomas appears to be saying something stronger than this. There are parallels to such a negative view, as in Prodicus and the Gospel of Philip [...] ...”
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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