Homilies on Jeremiah · §5.9 · Origen of Alexandria

Turn to the Lord and take away the veil

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This was written so that you too—having put the veil on your face through works of dishonor and shame—may yourself also work the taking away of the veil. If you turn to the Lord, then you take away the veil, and you will no longer say, 'Our dishonor covered us.' (1 Timothy 2:8) Anger lying on our soul against someone, for example, is a veil lying on our face. Therefore if we want to pray, 'The light of your face has been marked upon us, Lord,' (Psalm 4:6) let us take away the veil and do what the apostle teaches.

As long as these things are in our mind and reasoning, the veil and the dishonor lie on the inward face—on our ruling principle—so that we do not see the glory of God shining. It is not God who hides his glory from us; we ourselves put the veil from wickedness on the ruling principle.

Greek

Τοῦτο οὖν γέγραπται, ἵνα καὶ σύ, τὸ κάλυμμα ἐπιτιθείς σου τῷ προσώπῳ διὰ τῶν τῆς ἀτιμίας καὶ τῶν τῆς αἰσχύνης ἔργων, αὐτὸς ἐργάσῃ καὶ τὸ περιαιρεθῆναι τὸ κάλυμμα. ἐὰν ἐπιστρέψῃς πρὸς κύριον, τότε περιαιρεῖς τὸ κάλυμμα, καὶ οὐκέτι ἐρεῖς τὸ «ἐπεκάλυψεν ἡμᾶς ἡ ἀτιμία ἡμῶν. οἷον ὀργὴ ἐπικειμένη τῇ ψυχῇ ἡμῶν κατά τινος ἐπίκειται κάλυμμα ἡμῶν ἐπὶ τὸ πρόσωπον. διὰ τοῦτο εἰ θέλομεν προσευχόμενοι εἰπεῖν· «ἐσημειώθη ἐφ᾿ ἡμᾶς τὸ φῶς τοῦ προσώπου σου, κύριε«, περιαιρῶμεν τὸ κάλυμμα καὶ ποιήσωμεν τὸ ἀποστολικὸν ἐκεῖνο τὸ «βούλομαι οὖν προσεύχεσθαι τοὺς ἄνδρας ἐν παντὶ τόπῳ ἐπαίροντας ὁσίους χεῖρας χωρὶς ὀργῆς καὶ διαλογισμῶν. ἐὰν περιέλωμεν τὴν ὀργήν, περιείλομεν τὸ κάλυμμα, ἐὰν τὰ πάθη πάντα.

ὅσον δὲ ταῦτά ἐστιν ἐν τῷ νῷ ἡμῶν, ἐν τῷ λογισμῷ ἡμῶν, ἐπίκειται τῷ ἔνδον προσώπῶ, τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ ἡμῶν, τὸ κάλυμμα καὶ ἡ ἀτιμία, τοῦ μὴ βλέπειν ἡμᾶς τὴν δόξαν τοῦ θεοῦ λάμπουσαν. οὐκ ἔστιν ὁ θεὸς ὁ ἀποκρύπτων αὑτοῦ τὴν δόξαν ἀφ᾿ ἡμῶν, ἀλλ᾿ ἡμεῖς τὸ κάλυμμα ἀπὸ τῆς κακίας ἐπιτιθέντες τῷ ἡγεμονικῷ.

About this text

Origen on Jeremiah. Twenty Greek homilies survive. This page has Homilies 1–20. The rest of the volume is still being translated.

English follows Erich Klostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS, 1901). A second transcription of that same edition (First1KGreek TEI) was checked; where the TEI drops or garbles a line, the page image wins. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek. Homilies that survive only in Jerome’s Latin are not on this page yet. When they are, they will be marked at those homilies.

Witnesses

Copy-text Klostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS, 1901) (Greek · Homilies 1–20 Greek (this page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20))
Checked print Archive.org page image and DjVu of GCS III (Greek · Same print as the copy-text)
Checked print First1KGreek TEI of GCS III (Greek · Same print; encoding errors deferred to the page image)

Where the prints differ

Homily 1.1 — The TEI omits Ἑβραῖον. English follows the GCS page image: Jonah is “a Hebrew prophet.”
Homily 1.5 — The TEI dropped Ἰσαάκ. English follows the GCS page image: Isaac born of promise.
Homily 1.11 — The TEI/OCR of this line is garbled. English follows the GCS page image and the quoted verse: “I have sanctified you.”
Homily 3.2 — The TEI gaps Matthew 5:45 (sun on the evil and [gap]; rain on [gap] and the unjust). English follows the Gospel wording.

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.