Thanksgiving Address to Origen · §15 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

Origen, interpreter of God's prophets

Origen teaches them to heed God and His prophets alone, and opens the dark sayings of Scripture.

In these matters he counseled us to pay no heed at all, not even if someone were attested by all mankind as supremely wise, but to give heed to God alone and to His prophets. He himself acted as their interpreter and made clear whatever was dark and riddling, and much in the sacred words is of that kind. Whether it is God's pleasure to speak with human beings in this way, so that the divine word should not enter naked and uncovered into an unworthy soul, as most souls are; or whether the divine oracle, though by nature the clearest and simplest of all things, appears unclear and dark to us, who have fallen away from God and through the passing of long ages have unlearned how to listen, I cannot say. But he made these things clear and brought them into the light. If they happened to be riddles, he could do so because he was a skilled and most understanding hearer of God; and if they had nothing crooked in their nature, they were not beyond his understanding, since he alone of the people now living, of those I have known myself or heard others speak of, was so disposed, having trained himself to receive into his soul what is pure and full of light in the oracles and to teach it to others. For the Leader of all, who prompts the prophets, the friends of God, and inspires every prophecy and every mystical and divine word, so honored him as to make him His friend and one with whom He speaks. What He had only hinted at in riddles through others, He taught through this man. And whatever He, who is most worthy of trust, either commanded with royal authority or declared, He gave this man the gift to search out and discover their reasons, so that anyone who was hard of soul and unbelieving, or even eager to learn, might learn from him and be compelled, in a way, to understand and to choose to believe, and to follow God. And this man says these things, I think, in no other way than by fellowship with the divine Spirit. For those who prophesy and those who listen to the prophets need the same power; and no one can hear a prophet unless the very Spirit who prophesied gives him understanding of His words. Such an oracle stands written in the sacred Scriptures as well, saying that He who shuts alone opens, and no one else at all (Revelation 3:7; Isaiah 22:22). And the divine Word opens what is shut by making the riddles clear. This man has received from God this greatest of gifts, a most beautiful portion from heaven: to be an interpreter of God's words to human beings, to understand the things of God as though God Himself were speaking, and to explain them to human beings so that they can hear. So nothing was kept from us as unspeakable, for nothing was hidden or barred to us. We were free to learn every kind of teaching, barbarian and Greek, the more mystical and the more concerned with public life, divine and human, going round all of it and searching it out with complete freedom, taking our fill of everything and enjoying the goods of the soul. Whether it was some ancient lesson of truth, or anything else one could call by such a name, in him we had a wonderful store of it, full of the fairest sights, and free access to it. To put it briefly, he was truly a paradise to us, an image of the great paradise of God (Genesis 2:8). There we did not have to till the earth below or feed our bodies and grow fat; we had only to make the soul's riches grow, like fair plants, whether we planted them ourselves or they were planted in us by the Cause of all, while we rejoiced and took our delight.

Greek

Περὶ τούτων μὲν μηδὲν προσέχειν συμβουλεύων, μηδὲ εἰ πάνσοφός τις ὑπὸ πάντων ἀνθρώπων μαρτυρηθείη· μόνῳ δὲ προσέχειν Θεῷ, καὶ τοῖς τούτου προφήταις, αὐτὸς ὑποφητεύων καὶ σαφηνίζων, ὅτι ποτὲ σκοτεινὸν καὶ αἰνιγματῶδες ᾖ, οἷα πολλὰ ἐν ταῖς ἱεραῖς ἐστι φωναῖς. ἤτοι οὕτω φίλον ὂν τῷ Θεῷ προσομιλεῖν ἀνθρώποις, ὡς μὴ καὶ ἀναξίαν ψυχήν, οἷαι αἱ πολλαί, γυμνὸς καὶ ἀσκεπὴς ὁ θεῖος εἰσίῃ λόγος· ἢ καὶ τῇ φύσει μὲν σαφέστατον καὶ ἁπλούστατον πάντων τὸ θεῖον λόγιον ὄν· ἡμῖν δὲ ἀποστᾶσι Θεοῦ, καὶ ἀπομεμαθηκόσιν ἀκροᾶσθαι ὑπὸ χρόνου καὶ παλαιότητος, ἀσαφὲς καὶ σκοτεινὸν καταφαινόμενον, οὐκ ἔχω λέγειν. πλὴν σαφηνίζων καὶ εἰς φῶς προσάγων, εἴτε αἰνίγματα ὄντα τυγχάνοι, δεινὸς ὢν ἀκροατὴς Θεοῦ καὶ συνετώτατος· εἴτε καὶ οὐδὲν σκολιὸν ἔχοντα τῇ φύσει, οὐδ᾽ ἀσύνετον αὐτῷ οὕτως ἔχοντι μόνῳ τῶν νῦν ἀνθρώπων, ὧν αὐτός τε ἔγνων, καὶ ἑτέρων ἤκουσα περί τινων λεγόντων, μεμελετηκότι τὰ καθαρὰ τῶν λογίων φωτεινά τε, παραδέχεσθαι αὐτοῦ τῇ ψυχῇ καὶ διδάσκεσθαι ἑτέρους. ὅτι αὐτὸν ὁ πάντων ἀρχηγός, ὁ τοὺς τοῦ Θεοῦ φίλους προφήτας ὑπηχῶν καὶ ὑποβάλλων πᾶσαν προφητείαν καὶ λόγον μυστικὸν καὶ θεῖον, οὕτως αὐτὸν τιμήσας, ὡς φίλον προσήγορον κατέστησε. ὧν δι᾽ ἑτέρων ᾐνίξατο μόνον, τούτων διὰ τούτου τὴν διδασκαλίαν ποιούμενος. ὅσα τε ἀξιοπιστότατος ὤν, ἢ προσέταξε βασιλικῶς ἢ καὶ ἀπεφήνατο, τούτου τοὺς λόγους διερευνᾶσθαί τε καὶ ἐξευρίσκειν τούτῳ δωρησάμενος· ἵν᾽ εἴ τις σκληρὸς τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ἄπιστος, ἢ καὶ φιλομαθὴς ὢν τύχοι, παρὰ τούτου μαθών, συνεῖναι καὶ πιστεύειν ἑλέσθαι ἀναγκάζοιτο τρόπον τινά, καὶ ἕπεσθαι Θεῷ. λέγει τε ταῦτα, οὐκ ἄλλως, οἶμαι, ἢ κοινωνίᾳ τοῦ θείου πνεύματος. τῆς γὰρ αὐτῆς δυνάμεως δεῖ προφητεύουσί τε καὶ ἀκροωμένοις προφητῶν. καὶ οὐκ ἂν ἀκούσαι προφήτου, ᾧ μὴ αὐτὸ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ προφητεῦσαν, τὴν σύνεσιν τῶν αὐτοῦ λόγων ἐδωρήσατο. τοιοῦτον ἔγκειται λόγιον καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἱεροῖς γράμμασι, τὸν κλείοντα ἀνοιγνύναι μόνον λέγον, ἄλλον δὲ μηδ᾽ ὁντινοῦν. ἀνοίγει δὲ τὰ κεκλεισμένα, σαφηνίζων τὰ αἰνίγματα ὁ θεῖος λόγος. δῶρον τὸ μέγιστον οὗτος τοῦτο θεόθεν ἔχει λαβών, καὶ μοῖραν παγκάλην οὐρανόθεν, ἑρμηνεὺς εἶναι τῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ λόγων πρὸς ἀνθρώπους, συνιέναι τὰ Θεοῦ, ὡς Θεοῦ λαλοῦντος, καὶ διηγεῖσθαι ἀνθρώποις, ὡς ἀκούσωσιν ἄνθρωποι. τοιγαροῦν οὐδὲν ἡμῖν ἄρρητον· οὐδὲ γὰρ κεκρυμμένον καὶ ἄβατον ἦν. ἐξῆν δὲ καὶ μανθάνειν πάντα λόγον, καὶ βάρβαρον, καὶ Ἕλληνα, καὶ μυστικώτερον, καὶ πολιτικώτερον, καὶ θεῖον καὶ ἀνθρώπινον, σὺν πάσῃ παρρησίᾳ ἐκπεριιοῦσι πάντα καὶ διερευνωμένοις, καὶ πάντων ἐμφορουμένοις, καὶ ἀπολαύουσι τῶν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀγαθῶν, εἴτε τι παλαιὸν ἀληθείας μάθημα, εἴτε καὶ ἄλλο τις ὀνομάσαι τοιοῦτον ἔχοι, ἐν αὐτῷ ἦμεν ἔχοντες τὴν θαυμαστήν, καὶ πλήρη τῶν καλλίστων θεαμάτων παρασκευὴν καὶ ἐξουσίαν. καὶ συνελόντα εἰπεῖν, παράδεισος ἡμῖν ὄντως οὗτος ἦν, μιμητὴς τοῦ μεγάλου παραδείσου τοῦ Θεοῦ· ἐν ᾧ γῆν μὲν ἐργάζεσθαι οὐκ ἦν τὴν κάτω, οὐδὲ σωματοτροφεῖν παχυνομένους· τὰ δὲ ψυχῆς μόνον αὔξειν πλεονεκτήματα, ὥσπερ τινὰ φυτὰ ὡραῖα ἑαυτοὺς φυτεύσαντας, ἢ ἐμφυτευθέντας ἡμῖν ὑπὸ τοῦ πάντων αἰτίου εὐφραινομένους καὶ τρυφῶντας.

Report a mistake in this passage

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.

Report a mistake