Prayer of Joseph
If Origen's title gives us a hint, the surviving passsages are part of
Jacob's prayer for Joseph, rather than a prayer of Joseph.
Jacob, in this theology, is among the beings that pre-existed the
creation of the even the angels. There are two passages quoted in Origen
and then just a few paragraphs after the second quote there is a
referece to both. The second passage is quoted a couple of other places
and there are other references to the work. See Smith's discussion in
OTP [AH].
Origen, Commentary on John 25 (2.31)
[Thus Jacob says:]
"I, Jacob, who speaks to you, am also Israel, I am an angel of God, a
ruling spirit, Abraham and Isaac were pre-created before all other
works; But I am Jacob, called Jacob by men, but my name is Israel,
called Israel by God, that is, 'a man seeing God,' because I was the
first-born of every creature that God brought to life."
[And he adds:]
"When I was coming from Mesopotamian Syria, Uriel, the angel of God,
came forth, and said, that I had come down to the earth and made my
dwelling among men, and I had been given the name, 'Jacob.' He was angry
with me and fought with me and wrestled against me, saying that his name
and the name of the one who is before every angel should be before my
name. And I told him his name and how great he was among the sons of
God; "Are you not Uriel my eighth, and I am Israel and archangel of the
power of the Lord and a chief captain among the sons of God? Am not I
Israel, the first minister in the sight of God," and I invoked my God by
the inextinguishable name?"
[Tr. Allan Menzies, Ante-Nicene Fathers, somewhat modified in
light of Jonathan Z. Smith's translation in Charlesworth's
OTP
Origen, Philocalia 23.15
[And thus what is said by Jacob in the Prayer for Joseph
may be understood:]
"For I read in the pages of the sky what shall befall you and your
sons."
Tr. George Lewis
Origen, Philocalia 23.19
[And another way also Jacob was more than human, for he supplanted his
brother, and confessed in the same book from which we quoted the words,]
"I read in the pages of the sky," that he was commander-in-chief of the
host of the Lord and had long ago gained the name Israel; all of which
he acknowledges when ministering in bodily form, when the Archangel
Uriel reminds him of it.
Tr. George Lewis