Unit 1 rem early
Solomon says: “Will the one who rejoices over a person who is perishing go unpunished?” Or perhaps wisdom rejoices the way she rejoiced over the ruin of Matthew the tax collector, and over the ruin of the robber who believed in Christ. In the one case wisdom destroyed the robber’s old life; in the other, the tax collector’s.
A “siege” is ethical teaching that tears down a soul badly built, under God’s siege. Just as infants stand between the just and the unjust, so all human beings stand between angels and demons—neither demons nor ranked as angels—until the completion of the age. He said they were wronging “infants,” of whom Christ said, “Do not cause one of these little ones to stumble.” The person free from passion rests without fear from every evil thought, and soon will lodge in the kingdom of God, because he heard and kept God’s commands and hoped in him.
In this way a person hides God’s command by doing it, or by doing it not for empty glory. That is why the demons, by not letting us do it, are said to snatch it away. Then you will understand how the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and how it becomes the broker of the knowledge of God—when in faith and longing you come to him as one in need. Wisdom and understanding must be there first if someone is to grasp the fear of the Lord. Bring this home to those who despise wisdom and understanding, yet want to take refuge in fearing God as if it were an easy thing.
If Christ does not rescue us, we will travel the bad road as if it were good. Holy people say all things that are faithful—but not everything is. The devil has nothing faithful, nothing worthy of trust. Here “man” means the devil, as in the Gospels, if a wicked man sowed the weeds. The greatest plot, it seems, is to fall in with a bad counsel and with crafty, insidious, wicked men. If that kind of counsel—crushed, that is, darkened—is a motion of the mind, how did it abandon the teaching of youth? How did it forget the divine covenant? He speaks to us of bad counsel as of a rational living being.
Or here “bad counsel” means the devil. For he counseled badly when he said, “I will set my throne above the stars, and I will be like the Most High.” He forgot the divine knowledge when he left the teaching of youth—and that “youth” shows his former state, in which he was also zealous. If she can make the young understanding where so much is hard to rein in when she is absent, she is far more useful to an elder. Those who are overtaken by years of life through the works of the coming ever-living life seize the straight paths of an untroubled and unbroken life. They are not overtaken by his compassions into the paths of that straight everlasting life.
For the Lord loves those who pursue righteousness, and the counsel of the evil one will not overtake them. But those who trust the devil do not seize the straight paths of life, nor will they turn back into the kingdom of God. The one who does not live lawfully forgets the law; the one who lives by it remembers it. The one who keeps God’s words is not only the one who does them, but also the one who advises others. The one who loses them is the one who will not practice them and who hinders others. For it is not the hearers of the law who will be justified.
Healing is the health that comes from virtue for your way of life; God’s grace and care belong to your thoughts and intentions. When the soul’s powers—that is, the virtues—receive care, then all my bones will say, “Lord, Lord, who is like you?” The memorial power of the soul, once it receives care, will surely say, “I remembered God and was glad.” Likewise the seeing power will say, “I considered your works and was amazed.” So too the desiring power: “Lord, before you is all my desire.” And the rational power: “I reasoned through the ancient days.” The same will follow for the other powers.
That is: for those who are willing, nothing is hard—not like the desire for money. A pure mind draws near to wisdom, because it knows the good; the unclean mind will be far from her. After the transgression Adam is forbidden to partake of this tree—if a tree of life is planted from the fruits of righteousness. And the tree of life is the wisdom of God. Every lawless person is justly forbidden to touch this tree. God founded the earth by wisdom; and through his sense the abysses were broken open, the
Greek
φησιν ὁ Σολομών· «Ὁ δὲ ἐπιχαί 17.165 ρων ἀπολλυμένῳ οὐκ ἀθωωθήσεται;» Ἢ τάχα οὕτως χαίρει ἡ σοφία, ὡς ἐχάρη ἐπὶ τῇ ἀπωλείᾳ Ματθαίου τοῦ τελώνου, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ λῃστοῦ ἀπωλείᾳ πιστεύσαν τος τῷ Χριστῷ; τοῦ μὲν γὰρ, τὸν λῃστὴν ἡ σοφία· τοῦ δὲ, τὸν τελώνην ἀπώλεσε. Πολιορκία ἐστὶ διδασκαλία ἠθικὴ, τὴν κακῶς οἰκο δομηθεῖσαν ψυχὴν καταστρέφουσα ἐπὶ τῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ πολιορκίᾳ. Ὥσπερ τὰ νήπια μεταξὺ δικαίων καὶ ἀδίκων εἰσὶν, οὕτω καὶ πάντες οἱ ἄνθρωποι μεταξὺ ἀγγέλων τε καὶ δαιμόνων εἰσὶ, μήτε δαίμονες ὄντες μήτε ἄγγελοι χρηματίζοντες, μέχρι τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος· ἠδί κουν δὲ νηπίους, εἶπε, περὶ ὧν Χριστὸς ἔφη· Μὴ σκανδαλίσητε ἕνα τῶν μικρῶν τούτων. Ὁ ἀπαθὴς ἡσυχάζει ἀφόβως ἀπὸ παντὸς κακοῦ λογισμοῦ, καὶ μετ' ὀλίγον κατασκηνώσει ἐν τῇ βασι λείᾳ τοῦ Θεοῦ· ὡς ἀκούσας καὶ φυλάξας τὰ προσ τάγματα αὐτοῦ, ὅτι ἤλπισεν ἐπ' αὐτόν. Οὕτως κρύπτει ἐντολὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ ποιῶν αὐτὴν, ἢ ὁ μὴ ἐπὶ κενοδοξίᾳ ποιῶν· ὅθεν καὶ οἱ δαίμονες ἐκ τοῦ μὴ συγχωρεῖν αὐτὴν ποιεῖν ἡμᾶς, ἁρπάζειν λέ γονται. Τότε συνήσεις πῶς ὁ φόβος τοῦ Κυρίου ἀρχὴ σοφίας ἐστὶν, καὶ πῶς τῆς τοῦ Θεοῦ γνώσεως γίνεται πρόξε νος, ὅταν ἐν πίστει καὶ πόθῳ αὐτῷ ὑπάρχῃς προσ δεής· προϋπάρξαι δὲ δεῖ σοφίαν καὶ σύνεσιν, πρὸς τὸ δυνηθῆναι συνεῖναι φόβον Κυρίου· προσάξωμεν δὲ ταῦτα τοῖς τὴν σοφίαν καὶ σύνεσιν ἐξουθενοῦσι· κα ταφεύγειν δὲ βουλομένοις ἐπὶ τὸ φοβεῖσθαι τὸν Θεὸν, ὡς ἐπὶ εὐχερὲς πρᾶγμα. Χριστοῦ γὰρ μὴ ῥυομένου, ὡς ἀγαθὴν ὁδεύσομεν τὴν κακήν· ἅγιοι μὲν γὰρ πάντα λέγουσι πιστά· τὰ δὲ οὔ· ὁ δὲ διάβολος οὐδὲν πιστὸν, ἀντὶ τοῦ, πίστεως ἄξιον· ἄνδρα γὰρ νῦν τὸν διάβολον λέγει, ὡς ἐν Εὐαγ γελίοις· εἴ γε ἄνθρωπος πονηρὸς ἔσπειρε τὰ ζιζάνια· μεγίστη δὲ ὡς ἔοικεν ἐπιβουλὴ, τὸ περιτυχεῖν βουλῇ κακῇ, καὶ ἀνδράσι δολίοις καὶ ὑπούλοις καὶ πονη ροῖς. Εἰ ἡ ποιὰ βουλὴ συντετριμμένη ἤγουν ἐσκοτισμένη, νοῦ κίνησίς ἐστιν, πῶς αὕτη ἀπέλιπεν διδασκαλίαν νεότητος; πῶς δὲ καὶ θείας ἐπελάθετο διαθήκης; Ὡς γὰρ περὶ ζώου λογικοῦ, τῆς κακῆς βουλῆς ἡμῖν διαλέ γεται. Ἢ νῦν βουλὴν κακὴν τὸν διάβολον λέγει· οὗτος γὰρ κακῶς ἐβουλεύσατο, εἰπών· «Ἐπάνω τῶν ἄστρων θήσω τὸν θρόνον μου, καὶ ἔσομαι ὅμοιος τῷ Ὑψίστῳ·» ἐπελάθετο δὲ τῆς θείας γνώσεως, καταλιπὼν τὴν δι δασκαλίαν τῆς νεότητος· ἥτις νεότης τὴν προτέραν αὐτοῦ κατάστασιν δηλοῖ, καθ' ἣν καὶ ζηλωτὸς ἦν· εἰ δὲ νέους δύναται συνετίζειν ἔνθα πολὺ τὸ δυσήνιον, μὴ παρούσης· πολλῷ μᾶλλον πρεσβύτῃ ὠφέλιμος. Ὅσοι καταλαμβάνονται ὑπὸ ἐνιαυτῶν ζωῆς, διὰ τῶν ἔργων τῆς μελλούσης ἀειζώου ζωῆς, οὗτοι κατα 17.168 λαμβάνουσι τρίβους εὐθείας τῆς ἀταράχου καὶ ἀδια στάτου ζωῆς· οὐ καταλαμβάνονται ὑπὸ τῶν οἰκτειρ μῶν αὐτοῦ εἰς τὰς τρίβους τῆς εὐθείας ἀειζωΐας. – ∆ιώκοντας γὰρ δικαιοσύνην ἀγαπᾷ Κύριος, καὶ οὐ μὴ συγκαταλάβηται αὐτοὺς ἡ τοῦ πονηροῦ βουλή· οὐ κα ταλαμβάνουσι δὲ τρίβους εὐθείας ζωῆς· οὐδὲ μὴ ἀν τιστρέψουσιν εἰς τὴν βασιλείαν τοῦ Θεοῦ, οἱ τῷ δια βόλῳ πεποιθότες. Οὗτος ἐπιλανθάνεται τοῦ νόμου, ὁ μὴ νομίμως βιούς· οὗτος δὲ μέμνηται τοῦ νόμου, ὁ ζῶν κατ' αὐτόν· καὶ οὗτος τηρεῖ τὰ ῥήματα τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὁ μὴ μόνον ποιῶν αὐτὰ, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἄλλοις συμβουλευόμενος. Οὗτος δὲ ἀπόλλυσιν αὐτὰ, ὁ μὴ βουλόμενος πράττειν αὐτὰ, καὶ ἑτέρους κωλύων· οὐ γὰρ οἱ ἀκροαταὶ τοῦ νόμου δι καιωθήσονται. Ἴασις ἐστὶν ἡ ἐξ ἀρετῆς ὑγίεια τῇ πολιτείᾳ σου· ἡ δὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ χάρις καὶ ἐπιμέλεια τοῖς λογισμοῖς σου καὶ διανοήμασιν· ὅταν αἱ δυνάμεις τῆς ψυχῆς, ἤγουν αἱ ἀρεταὶ, ἐπιμελείας τύχωσι, τὸ τηνικαῦτα ἐροῦσι πάντα τὰ ὀστᾶ μου· «Κύριε, Κύριε, τίς ὅμοιός σοι;» Ἐπιμελείας γὰρ τυχοῦσα ἡ μνημονευτικὴ δύναμις τῆς ψυχῆς, πάντως ἐρεῖ τό· «Ἐμνήσθην τοῦ Θεοῦ καὶ εὐ φράνθην.» Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ ἡ ὀπτικὴ λέξει τό· «Κατενόη σα τὰ ἔργα σου, καὶ ἐξέστην.» Ὡσαύτως δὲ καὶ ἡ ἐπιθυ μητική· «Κύριε, ἐναντίον σου πᾶσα ἡ ἐπιθυμία μου·» ἐρεῖ δὲ καὶ ἡ λογική· «∆ιελογισάμην ἡμέρας ἀρχαίας.» Κατὰ ταῦτα συμβήσεται καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν ἄλλων δυνά μεων. Τουτέστι τοῖς βουλομένοις οὐδὲν δύσκολον ἔχοι, κα θάπερ ἡ τῶν χρημάτων ἐπιθυμία· νοῦς καθαρὸς ἐγγί ζει σοφίᾳ· ἐπειδὴ τὸ εὖ γινώσκει· ὁ δὲ ἀκάθαρτος μα κρυνθήσεται ἀπ' αὐτῆς. Τούτου τοῦ ξύλου μετὰ τὴν παράβασιν ὁ Ἀδὰμ μεταλαμβάνειν κωλύεται· εἴπερ ἀπὸ καρπῶν δι καιοσύνης φυτεύεται δένδρον ζωῆς· τὸ δὲ δένδρον ζωῆς, ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ σοφία ἐστί· δικαίως δὲ ἅψασθαι κεκώλυται τούτου τοῦ ξύλου πᾶς παράνομος. Ὁ Θεὸς τῇ μὲν σοφίᾳ καὶ τὴν γῆν ἐθεμελίωσε· διὰ δὲ τῆς αἰσθήσεως αὐτοῦ ἐῤῥάγησαν ἄβυσσοι, τὰ
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Expositio in Proverbia (Greek).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 13 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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.