Darkness over the abyss; Day One, not First
The earth was invisible and unordered before God said Let there be light and before he divided light from darkness. Darkness was over the abyss — that abyss in which the devil and his angels will be. So God dissolves the darkness: Let there be light, and light was made. He called the light Day and the darkness Night. There was evening and there was morning, day one — he did not say “first day,” because time was not yet before the world.
Latin
Invisibilis et incomposita terra erat, antequam Deus diceret: Fiat lux, et antequam divideret inter lucem et tenebras. Tenebrae erant super abyssum — illam nimirum in qua erit diabolus et angeli eius. Propterea Deus solvit tenebras: Fiat lux, et facta est lux. Et vocavit Deus lucem diem et tenebras noctem. Et factum est vespere et factum est mane, dies una — non dixit dies prima, quia tempus nondum erat ante mundum.
About this text
Origen’s Homilia I on Genesis (Rufinus’s Latin). Complete on this page: §§1–17.
English follows Baehrens, Origenes Werke VI (GCS 29, 1920), Rufinus’s Latin of Homilia I. Heine FOTC 71 was not used as wording. This page is Homilia I §§1–17 (closeout).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Baehrens, Origenes Werke VI = GCS 29 (1920) (Latin · Homilia I §§1–17)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.