Thanksgiving Address to Origen · §1 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

Silence, poverty of speech, and the daunting subject

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

Gregory is opening his address to Origen by explaining why he has been silent for eight years and why he now hesitates to speak.

Silence is an excellent thing—for many others, most of the time, but for me now especially, since I keep my mouth shut whether I want to or not, and I am forced to be silent. I am untrained and completely unskilled in those elegant and adorned speeches that are delivered or composed with carefully chosen and approved names and words, in one continuous and unbroken flow. Perhaps I was simply not equipped by nature to produce this charming and truly Greek work. But it is now the eighth year since I myself have delivered any speech, short or long, or written anything, or heard anyone else—whether writing privately or composing history, or publicly declaiming panegyrics and debates—except for these admirable men who have embraced the noble philosophy. They care less about style and elegance of words; setting words aside, they want to investigate and state each thing accurately as it really is. Not that they reject the other thing, I think; indeed, they want as much as possible to express their excellent and accurate thoughts in excellent language free from all falsehood. But perhaps they cannot, and it is not so readily available to them: on the one hand, to unfold the sacred and divine faculty in their own words; on the other, to produce speech adorned and polished with words; and to grasp in one and the same small human mind what is the special prerogative of two separate men—especially since the method of each is different and entirely opposed. For silence is in some way friendly to thought and the discovery of things, and a partner in the work; but you would not find the faculty of speaking and dignity of delivery anywhere except in words, and in constant meditation on and use of words. And yet another discipline also violently occupies my mind and completely binds my mouth and tongue, if I should wish to say even a little in the Greek tongue: I mean our wonderful laws, by which the affairs of all who now obey the Roman empire are governed. These are not established or understood without labor and difficulty. They are wise, pious, varied, and admirable—and to sum it up in one word, most Greek. But they are set forth and handed down in the Roman language, which is certainly admirable and magnificent, and suited to the majesty of the empire, but nonetheless heavy and difficult for me. I would never say that I could feel, or be able, or wish otherwise. And since our words are nothing other than certain images of the concepts and notions of our mind, it must be confessed that those who are strong in the faculty of speaking—like certain painters, most skilled in their art and abundantly supplied with colors—can paint not only likenesses but varied ones, made most beautiful by the frequent admixture of flowers, without any hindrance.

But we, like poor men lacking such varied dyes—who either never had them in our art, or perhaps threw them away—paint and fashion the first perceptions of our mind with the words that remain, as if with only charcoal or potsherds, using common names and words. We try to represent the characters of the impressions of the mind in whatever way we can—not clearly, nor adorned for appearance, but as usually happens in charcoal painting. If anything charming and eloquent offers itself, we reject it of our own accord, as people who despise such things. But there is yet a third thing that hinders and calls me away, and much more than the others holds me back and commands me to use silence: the subject itself. I had been eager to speak about it, but now I am forced to hesitate, and I am stuck. For I have set out to speak about a man who seems to be human, and appears so; but to those who can perceive the greatness of his character and habits, he seems endowed with greater and almost divine ornaments.

Latin

Praeclara quaedam res est silentium, tum aliis plerumque permultis, tum mihi nunc vel maxime, qui volens nolensque clausum os habeo, et tacere cogor. Inexercitatus enim sum ac plane rudis sermonum illorum elegantium atque ornatorum, qui selectis, probatisque nominibus ac verbis, perpetuo quodam et inoffenso ductu pronuntiantur aut componuntur: fortasse a natura ipsa ad venustum hoc, et vere Graecanicum opus elaborandum minus comparatus. Sed et octavus iam annus est, ex quo nec brevem, longamve orationem ullam habui ipse, nec aut scripsi; nec alium audivi quem vel privatim scribentem, historiamve, vel publice panegyricos sermones, controversiasque declamantem, praeter hosce admirabiles viros, qui pulchram philosophiam amplexi sunt: quibus scilicet elocutionis, elegantiaeque verborum cura minor est; postpositis autem vocibus, res ipsas, ut se habeant, accurate singulas investigare et enuntiare volunt: non quod alterum illud nolint, opinor; quin volunt quam maxime praeclaras, et accuratas cogitationes suas praeclaro et omnis mendacii experte sermone exprimere: sed quod fortasse non possint, nec adeo sic in promptu; hinc sacram ac divinam facultatem propriis explicare sententiis; hinc orationem verbis comptam atque concinnam adferre; et quae duorum hominum propria cuiusque est praerogativa, una et eadem, eaque parva et humana mente complecti; praesertim cum utriusque dispar ac penitus contraria sit ratio. Cogitationi siquidem, inventionique rerum amicum quodammodo, et consors operis est silentium: dicendi vero facultatem, et pronunciationis dignitatem haud alibi reperias, quam in verbis, verborumque assidua meditatione ac usu. Quin etiam et alia quaedam mentem disciplina vehementer occupat, et os linguam plane constringit, si vel exiguum quippiam Graeca voce eloqui velim: mirificae nimirum leges nostrae, quibus omnium nunc, qui Romanorum imperio parent, res gubernantur: quae quidem neque conduntur, neque percipiuntur sine labore ac molestia; et sapientes quidem illae, piaeque sunt et variae, et suspiciendae, atque ut uno verbo dicam, Graecissimae: ceterum Romano expositae, traditaeque sermone, admirabili sane atque magnifico, et ad imperii maiestatem confirmato; sed mihi gravi nihilominus ac difficili. Non enim aliter sentire aut posse aut velle me unquam dixerim. Cum autem aliud nihil sint voces nostrae, quam imagines quaedam animi nostri conceptuum ac notionum; iis quidem, qui dicendi facultate valent, tanquam pictoribus quibusdam et arte peritissimis, et colorum copia instructissimis, non similes modo, sed varias etiam, et ad speciem crebra florum admixtione pulcherrimas pingere licere sine ullo impedimento, confitendum est. Nos vero, quasi pauperes quidam, variis huiusmodi fucis carentes, et qui vel nunquam eos in arte nostra habuerimus, vel eos fortasse abiecerimus; tanquam solis carbonibus aut testulis viratorum, communiumque nominum ac verborum, prima animi nostri sensa, iis quae supersunt vocibus depingentes effingimus; typorum animi characteres, si non claros, nec ad speciem ornatos; at quemadmodum in carbonum pictura fieri solet, quoquo modo representare conantes; si quid uspiam venustum ac disertum se offerat, sponte nostra, ut qui haec aspernemur, reicientes. Verum et tertium quiddam rursum aliud est, quod impedit, et avocat, et multo magis, quam cetera, nos retinet, silentioque uti iubet, argumentum nempe ipsum; de quo dicere auebam quidem, sed cunctari nunc cogor, et haereo. De viro enim dicere institui, qui homo quidem esse videtur, et talis apparet; iis vero, qui magnitudinem eius habitus, moresque intueri possunt, maioribus quibusdam ornamentis instructus ac prope divinis videatur.

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