Thanksgiving Address to Origen · §2.1 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

Not his birth or body, but the godlike part of the man

Gregory says he has come to praise not Origen's birth or body but the godlike part of the man, and so he shrinks from the task.

It is not his family, nor the upbringing of his body, that I have come to praise, and so hang back and delay out of excessive scruple; nor his strength or his beauty. These are the praises given to young men, and it matters little whether they are spoken worthily or not. For to make a speech about things that neither last nor stand firm, but perish quickly and in many ways, and to do it with solemn airs and a show of dignity, and with such delays, might well prove frigid or overdone. If I had set out to speak of any of these things, I would not do it that way, since they are useless and vain, and I would never willingly have chosen to speak of them. Even so, had I set out to speak of anything of that kind, my speech would have felt no caution and no anxiety that I might seem, in what I said, to fall short of what the subject deserves.

But now I am to speak of what is most godlike in him, the part of him that is akin to God: shut up in this visible and mortal frame, yet striving with all its labor to be made like God. As I call this to mind, I am about to touch in some way on greater matters, and through it on a kind of thanksgiving to God, because it has been granted me to meet such a man, beyond all human expectation, both that of others and my own. I had never proposed it, nor even hoped for it. Now that I am about to touch on such things, small as I am and wholly without understanding, I shrink back, not without reason, and hesitate, and would willingly keep silent.

Greek

Οὐχὶ δὲ γένος, οὐδὲ ἀνατροφὰς σώματος ἐπαινέσων ἔρχομαι· εἶτα μέλλω καὶ ἀναβάλλομαι ὑπ᾽ εὐλαβείας περιττῆς· οὐδέ γε ἰσχὺν, ἢ κάλλος· ταῦτα δὴ τὰ τῶν μειρακίων ἐγκώμια, ὧν ἧττον φροντὶς κατ᾽ ἀξίαν τε καὶ μὴ, λεγομένων. πραγμάτων γὰρ οὐ μονίμων, οὐδὲ ἑστώτων, φθειρομένων δὲ ποικίλως, καὶ ταχέως, λόγον ποιεῖσθαί τινα σεμνοειδῶς καὶ ἀξιοπρεπῶς δὴ ταῖς ἀναβολαῖς, μὴ καὶ ψυχρὸν ἢ περιττότερον ᾖ, οὐκ ἄν μοι τούτων εἴπερ τι λέγειν προὔκειτο, ἀχρήστων μὲν ὄντων καὶ ματαίων, καὶ οἵων οὐκ ἄν ποτε ἑκὼν προὐθέμην λέγειν. οὐ μὴν ἀλλ᾽ εἴπερ προὔκειτό τι τοιοῦτον, οὐδ᾽ εἶχεν ἂν εὐλάβειαν ὁ λόγος, οὐδὲ φροντίδα, μή πῃ τι λέγων, ἥττων τῆς ἀξίας φαινοίμην. νυνὶ δὲ ὅ, τι θεοειδέστατον αὐτοῦ· καὶ ὅπερ ἐν αὐτῷ συγγενὲς ὂν τυγχάνει Θεῷ, ἐγκαθειργμένον μὲν τῷ φαινομένῳ καὶ θνητῷ τῷδε, ὅτι δὲ φιλοπονώτατα ἐξομοιοῦσθαι βιαζόμενον τῷ Θεῷ. τούτου μνημονεύων καὶ ἐφάπτεσθαί πως μέλλων πραγμάτων μειζόνων, καί τινος διὰ τούτου καὶ τῆς εἰς τὸ θεῖον εὐχαριστίας, ὅτι μοι συγκυρῆσαι, τοιούτῳ δεδώρηται ἀνδρὶ, παρὰ πᾶσάν γε τὴν ἀνθρώπων προσδοκίαν τῶν τε ἄλλων καὶ τὴν ἐμοῦ αὐτοῦ, οὔτε προτεθειμένου ποτὲ, οὔτε καὶ ἐλπίσαντος τοιούτων ἐφάπτεσθαι μέλλων, μικρὸς ὢν καὶ ἄνους παντελῶς, οὐκ εὐλόγως ἀναδύομαί τε καὶ ὀκνῶ καὶ ἑκὼν σιωπῶ.

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