Thanksgiving Address to Origen · §4.2 · Gregory Thaumaturgus

The guardian angel who has led him from childhood

Gregory gives thanks to Origen and to the guardian angel who has led him since childhood.

But let this speech of ours be a thank-offering, among all people, most of all to this holy man. And if I should wish to speak still more boldly, let it also be thanks to one of those beings who are not seen but are more divine, and who care for human beings: to him who, by some great judgment, was given charge of me from childhood, to manage, nurse and guard me, the holy angel of God, “who has fed me from my youth” (Genesis 48:15–16), as that man who was dear to God says, meaning, of course, his own.

He, being great, had a correspondingly great guardian: whether some other, whoever that may be, or perhaps the Angel of Great Counsel himself (Isaiah 9:6), the common Savior of all, whom, by reason of his perfection, he had by then received as his only guardian. This I do not know clearly. In any case, he knew and praised his own great one, whoever he may be. We, besides the common Governor of all people, acknowledge and praise also this one, whoever he is, who has been our own tutor from infancy. In everything else he has been in every way my good nurse and guardian, not as seems beneficial to me or to any of the friends close to me, for we are blind and see nothing of what lies ahead, so as to be able to judge anything of what is needed, but as seems beneficial to him, who foresees everything that helps our soul. Long ago and still now he nurtures me and leads me by the hand.

And besides all this, he contrived to join me to this man, the most important thing of all. I was not related to him by family or human blood, nor connected in any other way, nor one of his neighbors, nor even of the same nation at all, the very things that give most people their grounds for friendship and union. To put it shortly, we were unknown to each other, strangers, foreign to each other, standing very far apart, as far as the nations, mountains and rivers in between could separate us. Yet he brought us together by a providence truly divine and wise, and contrived this saving meeting for me, foreseeing it from above, I think, from my first birth and upbringing. How he did so would take long to recount, not only for one who speaks with precision and tries to leave nothing out, but even if I were to pass over most of it and chose to recall, in brief, a few of the most important points.

Greek

Ὁ δ᾽ ἡμέτερος οὗτος, ἔστω χαριστήριος ἀνθρώπων μὲν πάντων μάλιστα, τῷ ἀνδρὶ τῷ ἱερῷ τῷδε. εἰ δέ τι καὶ περαιτέρω μεγαληγορεῖν ἐθέλοιμι, καὶ τῶν οὐ φαινομένων μὲν, θειοτέρων δὲ, καὶ κηδομένων ἀνθρώπων, τούτῳ ὅς με ἐκ παίδων κρίσει τινὶ μεγάλῃ οἰκονομεῖν τε καὶ τιθηνεῖσθαι καὶ ἐπιτροπεύειν ἐκληρώσατο, ὁ ἱερὸς ἄγγελος Θεοῦ· ὁ τρέφων με ἐκ νεότητός μου, φησὶν ἐκεῖνος ὁ Θεῷ φίλος ἀνὴρ τὸν αὐτοῦ λέγων δηλαδή. ἀλλ᾽ ὁ μὲν μέγας ὢν, ἀναλόγως μέγαν τινὰ ἤτοι ἄλλον ὅστις ἂν ἐκεῖνος ᾖ, ἢ καὶ αὐτὸν ἴσως τὸν τῆς μεγάλης βουλῆς ἄγγελον, τὸν κοινὸν πάντων σωτῆρα, ὑπὸ τελειότητος μόνον ἤδη φύλακα αὐτῷ εἶναι κληρωσάμενος, οὐκ οἶδα τοῦτο σαφῶς. πλὴν ὁ μὲν, τὸν ἑαυτοῦ μέγαν τινὰ, ὅς τις ποτ᾽ ἂν ᾖ, καὶ γινώσκων καὶ εὐφημῶν. ἡμεῖς δὲ πρὸς τῷ κοινῷ πάντων ἀνθρώπων κυβερνήτῃ, καὶ τοῦτον ὅς τίς ποτ᾽ ἐστὶν ἰδίᾳ παιδαγωγὸς ἡμῶν ὄντα ἐκ νηπίων. ὅς τά τε ἄλλα πάντῃ πάντα ἀγαθὸς ὢν τροφεὺς καὶ κηδεμὼν ἐμὸς, (οὐχὶ ἐμοὶ ἢ τινὶ τῶν ἐμοὶ προσηκόντων φίλων· τυφλοὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς καὶ μηδὲν τῶν ἔμπροσθεν ὁρῶντες, ὥστε τι καὶ κρίνειν δύνασθαι τῶν δεόντων· ἀλλ᾽ ἢ αὐτῷ προορωμένῳ πάντα τὰ πρὸς ὠφέλειαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἡμῶν, συμφέρον εἶναι καταφαίνεται.) πάλαι τε καὶ νῦν ἔτι ἐκτρέφει τε καὶ χειραγωγεῖ. καὶ δὴ πρὸς πᾶσι τοῖς ἄλλοις, καὶ συνάψαι με τῷ ἀνδρὶ τούτῳ. τοῦτο δὴ τὸ κεφαλαιωδέστατον πάντων, ἐμηχανήσατο, οὔτε γένει καὶ αἵματί με ἀνθρωπίνῳ τινὶ προσήκοντα, οὔτε ἄλλως προσήκοντα, ἢ ὄντα τινὰ τῶν πλησιοχώρων, οὔτε καὶ ὁμοεθνῆ ὅλως. ταῦτα δὴ ἃ προφάσεις φιλίας καὶ ἑνώσεως τοῖς πολλοῖς τῶν ἀνθρώπων γίνεται· ἀλλὰ συνελόντα εἰπεῖν, ἀγνῶτας, ἀλλοτρίους, ἀπεξενωμένους, ἀλλήλων ἀφεστηκότας πάμπολυ, ὅσον μέσα ἔθνη καὶ ὄρη, καὶ ποταμοὶ διείργειν ἡμᾶς, ὑπὸ τῆς θείας ὄντως καὶ σοφῆς προμηθείας εἰς ταὐτὸν ἀγαγὼν, τὴν σωτήριον ἐμοὶ συνόδον ταύτην ἐμηχανήσατο. ἄνωθεν τοῦτο προμηθούμενος οἶμαι ἐκ πρώτης γενέσεως καὶ ἀνατροφῆς. πῶς δὲ μακρὸν ἂν εἴη διεξιέναι, οὐχὶ ἀκριβολογουμένῳ μόνον καὶ μηδὲν παραλιπεῖν πειρωμένῳ· ἀλλ᾽ εἰ καὶ τὰ πολλὰ παρεὶς, ἀθρόως, ὀλίγον τῶν κεφαλαιωδεστέρων μνημονεύειν ἐθελήσαιμι.

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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.

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