Thanksgiving Address to Origen · §10 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

A plea to the philosophers before the praise

Gregory asks the other philosophers not to take offense at his praise of Origen.

I ask the philosophers of our day, both those I have known myself and those I have heard of from others, and everyone else as well, not to take offense at what I am now saying. Let no one think I say this out of friendship for the man, or else out of hostility toward the other philosophers. As much as anyone, I wish to be a devoted lover of them for the sake of their teachings; I want to speak well of them myself, and to hear others speak most highly of them. But their ways are such that the very name of philosophy is insulted to the last degree by nearly everyone, and I very nearly chose to stay wholly untaught rather than learn any of the things these men teach; for because of the rest of their lives I did not think them worth even approaching, though perhaps I did not judge rightly in this. So, I say, let no one suspect that I speak from some ambition, either in praising the man or in that other rivalry against the philosophers outside. Let him rather be assured that, so as not to seem to flatter, we are saying less than his deeds deserve. We are not supplying ourselves with phrases and words and the stock devices of the art for a eulogy. Even as a youth, when I was learning popular rhetoric from a rhetorician, I would not willingly bring myself to say anything untrue in praising anyone or in speaking a eulogy about anyone. Nor now, then, when I have set out to praise, do I think I should simply raise this man up by blaming others. Otherwise I would be speaking ill of him, setting his blessed life beside other people’s failings so as to have something greater to say about him. We are not so foolish. Instead I will confess exactly what happened to me, without comparisons or verbal trickery.

Greek

Ἐξαιτοῦμαι δὲ παρά τε φιλοσόφων τῶν νῦν ὄντων, ὅσους αὐτὸς ἔγνων, καὶ ὅσους ἄλλων διηγουμένων ἤκουσα, καὶ παρὰ τῶν ἄλλων δὲ ἀνθρώπων, ἀνεμεσήτως ἔχειν πρὸς τὰ νῦν ἡμῖν λεγόμενα. μηδέ με τις ἢ φιλίᾳ τῇ πρὸς τὸν ἄνδρα, ἢ καὶ ἀπεχθανόμενον ἔτι τοῖς λοιποῖς φιλοσόφοις (ὧν, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος, καὶ αὐτὸς ἐραστής τε διὰ τοὺς λόγους εἶναι θέλω, καὶ εὐφημεῖν αὐτοὺς βούλομαι, αὐτός τε καὶ ἑτέρων τὰ μάλιστα λεγόντων περὶ αὐτῶν ἀκούειν· ἀλλὰ γὰρ τοιαῦτά ἐστιν, ὡς εἰς ἔσχατον περιυβρίζεσθαι μὲν ὑπὸ πάντων σχεδὸν καὶ τοὔνομα τῆς φιλοσοφίας, ἐμὲ δὲ μικροῦ δεῖν ἰδιωτεύειν ἑλέσθαι πάντῃ, ἤπερ τι μαθεῖν ὧν οὗτοι ἀπαγγέλλουσιν, οἷς διὰ τὸν λοιπὸν βίον οὐδὲ προσιέναι ἄξιον εἶναι ἐδόκουν, ἴσως οὐκ ὀρθῶς τοῦτο φρονῶν)· πλὴν μή μέ τις φιλοτιμίᾳ τινί, ἤτοι τῶν εἰς τὸν ἄνδρα ἐπαίνων, ἢ τῇ πρὸς τοὺς ἔξω φιλοσόφους ἄλλῃ ταύτῃ φιλοτιμίᾳ ταῦτα λέγειν ὑπονοησάτω· ἀλλὰ καὶ μικρότερα ἡμᾶς τῶν αὐτοῦ ἔργων, μὴ κολακεύειν δοκοίημεν, λέγειν πεπείσθω· οὐχὶ ῥήματα καὶ ὀνόματα, καὶ ἀφορμὰς ἐντέχνους ἐγκωμίων ἑαυτοῖς ἐκποριζομένοις, ὃς οὐδ' ὅτε μειράκιον ὤν, τὴν δημώδη ῥητορικὴν ἐκ ῥήτορος ἐδιδασκόμην, ἐπαινεῖν, καὶ λέγειν περί του ἐγκώμιον, ὅ,τι μὴ ἀληθὲς ἦν, ἑκὼν ὑπέμενον. οὐ τοίνυν οὐδὲ νῦν ἐπαινεῖν προθέμενος, ἁπλῶς τοῖς ἑτέρων ψόγοις τοῦτον ἐξαίρειν οἶμαι δεῖν· ἢ κακῶς ἂν ἔλεγον τὸν ἄνδρα, τοῖς ἄλλων πταίσμασιν, ἵνα τι περὶ αὐτοῦ μεῖζον δὴ λέγειν ἔχοιμι, παραβαλὼν τὸν μακάριον αὐτοῦ βίον. οὐχ οὕτως ἀφραίνομεν· ἀλλ' αὐτὸ ὃ πέπονθα δίχα τινὸς παραβολῆς καὶ πανουργίας τῆς ἐν λόγοις, ὁμολογήσω.

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About this text

Gregory's farewell speech to his teacher Origen: how a pagan boy bound for law school in Berytus was led to Caesarea, how Origen taught him logic, natural science, ethics and the reading of Scripture, and his grief at leaving. A fresh English translation of the whole address.

Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213–c. 270) wrote this address to his teacher Origen. The speech is an expression of thanks and praise, though Gregory feels inadequate to the task of honoring his teacher.

The occasion is Gregory's farewell to Origen's school at Caesarea. He begins by explaining that he has neither spoken nor written for eight years, and has only listened to philosophers who value accurate investigation over polished speech. He then tells how a guardian angel led him, a pagan boy bound for law studies in Berytus, to Origen, and how Origen trained him in logic, natural science, ethics and the reading of Scripture. He ends by lamenting his departure and asking Origen to pray for him.

A reader will meet Gregory himself as the speaker, and Origen as the subject of the speech. Origen is described as a man who appears human, but to those who can perceive the greatness of his character and habits, seems endowed with greater and nearly divine ornaments.

The opening section (to the point where Gregory turns to his subject) was translated from the Latin column of the Opera omnia print (Paris, 1622). Everything after it, to the closing prayer, was translated from that print's Greek column, read from the page images; the facing Latin was used to settle damaged or abbreviated words. Where the print is hard to construe, a few readings follow Koetschau's edition (1894); each one is named in the translator notes. The older Ante-Nicene Fathers English was used only as a sense check for the opening section.

Printed text used

Translated from Opera omnia, Greek and Latin (Paris: Sonnius, Morel and Cramoisy, 1622), page images (Greek and Latin · Whole address: Latin column for section 1, Greek column for sections 2.1-19)
Translated from Latin of the opening section (Latin · Section 1)
Also checked DjVu text of the same print (Latin and Greek (machine-read text) · Opening)

Where the prints differ

Section 1 — Translated from the Latin column; the Greek of this opening was not used. Long-s and column joins expanded (ductu; nec aut scripsi; historiamve; arte nostra); the editor's argument and notes left out.
Sections 5.1, 5.3 and 6.2 — Abbreviated words read from the page images and the facing Latin: 'father' (πατρός), 'toward our sister' (πρὸς τὴν ἀδελφήν), 'through the whole of this life' (διὰ παντός), 'handing over his charge' (τὴν οἰκονομίαν παραδιδούς), 'with difficulty' (δυσχερῶς).
Section 6.3 — The print's doubtful participle (βλέψαν) is rendered with Koetschau's reading βλάψαν ('without doing it any harm').
Sections 7.2 and 8 — The print runs one sentence across the break; it is translated once, at the start of section 8, where Koetschau begins chapter 8.

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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