Expositio in Proverbia Unit 7 opening
He says, examining his own wickedness and turning back to him, then turning again to him, he is like a dog eating its own vomit; just as was the wife of Lot, and she turned back toward what the unclean spirit had caused her to turn toward. This saying must be used against those who are reckoning some of the unworthy among the priesthood, or in the lot; for no one among us has established the justice and liberty of the Church; but it is either ours, or Christ’s, through which He judged Himself justified to be given over to slaughter, and His blood was poured out on her behalf; thus also every one who desires to undertake the oversight of the Church’s households must surrender himself, and seize the collar of the evil one, and liberate those under his wickedness, and bring them into the full knowledge of Christ. As fire in wood, so in evil thoughts the anger that is directed toward the passions of the mind blazes and burns; but where there is no double-mindedness, that is, no divided soul, but either to God or to mammon, stillness will come from it, the one over the other; either the commandment of God, having conquered, the evil one will be subdued, and he will make peace with wickedness; but if one chooses both, and falls out of life, and will be deprived of temporary things. The lips here he says are the thoughts; but the one who does not open the lips of the mind against the evil, confessing to God the evils which he has sown against God, but conceals them, covers his heart with grief, not thinking through folly that he has sin in these things; not knowing the God’s good compassion; for to those who thus endure and proclaim these things to Him, He awards crowns as if they were contending in each struggle through Him. He mocks, instead of rejoicing, he has taken; for a cheerful soul, delighting in the knowledge of the Scriptures, rejoices in being filled; but an impure soul, and the false knowledge, surely believes it to be true. Or the place of the heart, virtue and knowledge, from which a man, having been estranged, falls into wickedness and ignorance, and becomes a slave of sin, doing it; inasmuch as he is rational,
His place is virtue. An untroubled mind delights in varied pleasures—wisdom, knowledge, and hymnody; but a mind troubled by passion is shattered in ignorance and wickedness, and comes to a fall that is incurable and great. God is our friend and the friend of our forefathers, and of those who come after us; for he himself said, “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have hewn for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns.” Here Christ is our brother according to grace; but to enter your brother’s house without the commandments he has given us, in order to gain authority to enter his house—that is, to enter the kingdom of heaven—do not attempt it unhappily regarding these things; for such was the one who entered the wedding feast without a wedding garment; having been bound hand and foot, he was cast out of the wedding. Our brother here is the choir of angels; for according to the nature of the angels, before the transgression and fall, the devil was of the angels and of us; but God is our friend; and it is better to dwell with our true and genuine God, who is near and most closely present, than with one who has made himself far from himself a devil, as if submitting to a brother, in order to perish together with him. The one who joins with me through true knowledge is superior to the one who joins with me only through nature. The house of man is virtue; if therefore one does not attend to it with diligence, in the time of trials he falls from it. Here the fig tree is the righteousness of God, which those who plant it in themselves and in others, and who transmit it as a graft, shall eat its fruit by the hand of the Lord, the only just one, and shall contend for righteousness; and to those who guard his righteousness together with themselves, he appoints, assigning righteousness, the righteousness that also justifies angels, in the brilliant splendor of the unchanging righteousness; but whoever guards the word of the Lord, guards the Lord in his own heart as unchangeable from him; and he shall be honored not only from here on by
Greek
φησὶ, κακίαν αὑτοῦ, καὶ πρὸς αὐ τὴν πάλιν ἐπιστρέψας, ὅμοιός ἐστι κυνὶ ἐσθίοντι τὸν ἴδιον ἐμετόν· οἷα ἦν ἡ τοῦ Λὼτ γυνὴ, καὶ πρὸς ὃν τὸ ἀκάθαρτον πνεῦμα ἐπέστρεψεν. Χρηστέον τούτῳ τῷ ῥητῷ πρὸς τοὺς ψηφιζομένους τινὰς τῶν ἀναξίων ἐν ἱερωσύνῃ, ἢ ἐν κλήρῳ· οὐ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν καθ' ἡμᾶς τις τὴν δικαιοκρισίαν καὶ ἐλευθε ρίαν τῆς Ἐκκλησίας ἐποιήσατο· ἢ ἡμετέρα ἐστὶν, ἀλλὰ Χριστοῦ, δι' ἣν ἔκρινε δικαιώσας ἑαυτὸν σφαγῇ δοθῆναι, καὶ χυθῆναι τὸ αἷμα αὐτοῦ ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς· οὕτω καὶ ὁ πᾶς τις Ἐκκλησίας οἴακας ἐγκεχειρίσθαι ἐπιθυμῶν, ὀφείλει ἑαυτὸν ἐκδοῦναι, καὶ τῆς κέρκου τοῦ πονηροῦ κρατῆσαι, καὶ τοὺς ὑπὸ τὴν αὐτοῦ κα κίαν ἐλευθερῶσαι, καὶ εἰς τὴν τοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐπίγνωσιν προσαγαγεῖν. Ὥσπερ ἐν ξύλοις τὸ πῦρ, οὕτως ἐν πονηροῖς λο γισμοῖς θάλλει καὶ καίει ὁ πρὸς τὰ πάθη τοῦ νοῦ θυμός· ὅπου δὲ οὐκ ἔστι δίθυμος, τουτέστι δίψυχος, ἀλλ' ἢ τῷ Θεῷ, ἢ τῷ μαμμωνᾷ, ἡσυχασθήσεται ἐξ αὐτοῦ τὸ ἓν τοῦ ἑτέρου· ἢ τὸ τοῦ Θεοῦ πρόσταγμα νικῆσαν, τὸ τοῦ πονηροῦ τακήσεται, καὶ τῇ κακίᾳ προσειρηνεύσει· ἐὰν δὲ τὰ δύο ἕλοιτο, καὶ τῆς ζωῆς ἐκπέσοι, καὶ τῶν προσκαίρων στερηθήσεται. Χείλη ἐνταῦθα τοὺς λογισμούς φησιν· ὁ δὲ τὰ χείλη τοῦ νοῦ μὴ ἀνοίγων κατὰ τοῦ πονηροῦ, πρὸς τὸν Θεὸν ἐξομολογούμενος τὰ κακὰ, ὅσα ἐνσπείρειεν αὐτῷ κατὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἀλλὰ κρύπτει, λύπῃ καλύπτει ἑαυτοῦ καρδίαν, ἐξ ἀφροσύνης μὴ νομίζων ἔχειν ἁμάρτημα ἐν τούτοις· οὐκ εἰδὼς τὴν τοῦ Θεοῦ εὐ σπλαγχνίαν· ὅτι μᾶλλον τοῖς οὕτως ὑπομένουσι καὶ ἐξαγγέλλουσιν αὐτῷ ταῦτα, στεφάνους ἀπονέμει ὡς καθ' ἑκάστην ἀθλοῦσι δι' αὐτόν. Ἐμπαίζει, ἀντὶ τοῦ χαίρει, ἔλαβε· ψυχὴ γὰρ κα θαρὰ, κατατρυφῶσα τῆς γνώσεως τῶν Γραφῶν, χαίρει ἐμπιπλαμένη· ψυχὴ δὲ ἀκάθαρτος, καὶ τὴν ψευδώνυμον γνῶσιν, ἀληθῆ πάντως νομίζει. Ἢ τόπος καρδίας, ἀρετὴ καὶ γνῶσις, ἀφ' ὧν ἀπο ξενωθεὶς ἄνθρωπος πίπτει εἰς κακίαν καὶ ἀγνωσίαν, καὶ γίνεται δοῦλος τῆς ἁμαρτίας ποιῶν αὐτήν· καθὸ γὰρ λογικός ἐστι, τόπος αὐτοῦ ἡ ἀρετή. 17.241 Νοῦς ἀπαθὴς ποικίλοις τέρπεται, σοφίᾳ καὶ γνώ σει, καὶ ὑμνῳδίᾳ· νοῦς δὲ ἐμπαθὴς, ἐν ἀγνωσίᾳ καὶ κακίᾳ καταῤῥήγνυται, καὶ εἰς πτῶμα ἔρχεται δυσ ίατον καὶ μέγα. Φίλος ἡμῶν καὶ τῶν πρόπαλαι πατέρων, καὶ τῶν μεθ' ἡμᾶς, ὁ Θεός ἐστιν· αὐτὸς γὰρ εἶπεν· Ἐμὲ ἐγκατέλιπον πηγὴν ὕδατος ζῶντος, καὶ ὤρυξαν ἑαυτοῖς λάκκους συντετριμμένους. –Ἐνταῦθα ἀδελφὸς ὁ Χριστός ἐστι κατὰ χάριν· εἰς δὲ τὸν οἶ κον τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου, ἄνευ τῶν ἐντολῶν, ὧν ἡμῖν δέδωκεν, εἰς ἐξουσίαν τοῦ εἰσελθεῖν εἰς τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ, τουτέστιν εἰς τὴν τῶν οὐρανῶν βασιλείαν, μὴ εἰσέλθῃς ἀτυχῶν τούτων· τοιοῦτος γὰρ ἦν καὶ ὁ εἰσελθὼν εἰς τὸν γάμον, μὴ ἔχων ἔνδυμα γάμου· δεθεὶς δὲ χεῖρας καὶ πόδας ἐξεβλήθη τοῦ γάμου. –Ἀδελφὸς ἡμῶν ἐνταῦθα ὁ τῶν ἀγγέλων χορός ἐστι· κατὰ γὰρ τὴν τῶν ἀγγέλων φύσιν πρὸ τῆς παραβάσεως καὶ πτώσεως ὁ διάβολος τῶν ἀγγέλων καὶ ἡμῶν ὑπῆρχε· φίλος δὲ ἡμῶν ἐστιν ὁ Θεός· κρεῖσσον δὲ τῷ ἐγγυ τέρῳ καὶ ἀληθινῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν καὶ φίλῳ ἐγγὺς καὶ πλησιεστέρως οἰκεῖν, ἢ τῷ μακρὰν ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ἑαυτὸν ποιήσαντι διαβόλῳ, ὡς ἀδελφῷ ὑπείκειν, εἰς τὸ συναπολέσθαι αὐτῷ. –Κρείσσων ὁ συναπτόμενός μοι διὰ τῆς ἀληθοῦς γνώσεως, ὑπὲρ τὸν συναπτόμε νόν μοι μόνον διὰ τῆς φύσεως. Τοῦ ἀνθρώπου οἶκος, ἡ ἀρετή· ἐὰν οὖν μὴ σπου δαίως ταύτης ἐπιμελῆται, ἐν καιρῷ πειρασμῶν ἐκ πίπτει αὐτῆς. Συκῆ ἐνταῦθα ἡ δικαιοσύνη ἡ τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐστιν, ἣν οἱ φυτεύοντες ἐν ἑαυτοῖς, καὶ ἑτέροις μετάφυτα δι δόντες, τὸν καρπὸν αὐτῆς φάγονται ἐκ χειρὸς Κυρίου τοῦ μόνου δικαίου καὶ τὴν δικαιοσύνην βραβεύσαν τος· καὶ τοῖς τὴν δικαιοσύνην αὐτοῦ φυλάξασι σὺν ἑαυτῷ συντάττων, ἀπονέμει δικαιοσύνην, τὴν καὶ ἀγγέλους δικαιοῦσαν, ἐν τῇ ἀτρέπτῳ τῆς δικαιο σύνης λαμπρότητι· ὃς δὲ φυλάσσει τὸν λόγον τοῦ Κυρίου, τὸν Κύριον φυλάσσει ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ αὑτοῦ ἀχώριστον εἶναι ἀπ' αὐτοῦ· τιμηθήσεται δὲ οὐ μό νον ἐντεῦθεν ὑπὸ
About this text
Origen of Alexandria, Expositio in Proverbia (Greek).
Original English Translation of Origen’s Expositio in Proverbia — new OET from PG 13 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.