The Wood in the Bread
They conceived a plan, saying, 'Come, let us cast wood into his bread.' For indeed the Jews crucified him, which we boldly proclaim. How does this apply to 'They conceived a plan against me, saying, 'Come, let us cast wood into his bread'? It is an act to understand. The bread of Jesus is the word in which we are nourished.
Therefore, when he taught in the people, they wished to add a stumbling block to his teaching through his crucifixion, saying, 'Let us cast wood into his bread.' For when the crucifixion is added to the word of Jesus' teaching, wood is cast into his bread.
I will say something more paradoxical: the wood cast into his bread made the bread better. I take an example from Moses' law: the wood cast into bitter water made it sweet. Thus the wood of Jesus Christ's passion made his bread sweeter. Before the wood came into his bread, when the bread alone existed and no wood was in his teaching, 'his voice did not go out to all the earth.' But when the bread received power through the wood cast into it, therefore his teaching's word spread throughout the whole world.
I said, 'Come, let us cast wood into his bread.'
Greek
«Ἐπ᾿ ἐμὲ ἐλογίσαντο λογισμόν, λέγοντες· δεῦτε καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ. ὅτι μὲν ἐσταύρωσαν αὐτὸν Ι Ἰουδαῖοι, δῆλον τοῦτό ἐστιν καὶ παρρησίᾳ τοῦτο κηρύσσομεν. πῶς δὲ τοῦτο ἐφαρμόσεις τῷ «ἐλογίσαντο ἐπ᾿ ἐμὲ λογισμόν, λέγοντες· δεῦτε καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ«, ἔργον ἐστὶ νοῆσαι. ὁ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἄρτος ὁ λόγος ἐστὶν ἐν ᾧ τρεφόμεθα. ἐπεὶ τοίνυν διδάσκοντος αὐτοῦ ἐν τώ λαῷ ἠθέλησαν τὸ σκάνδαλον έν] τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ αὐτοῦ προσθεῖναι διὰ τοῦ σταυρῶσαι αὐτόν, εἶπον· «βάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ. ὅταν γὰρ τῷ λόγῳ τῆς Ἰησοῦ διδασκαλίας προσάπτηται τὸ ἐσταυρῶσθαι τὸν διδάσκαλον, εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ ξύλον ἐμβέβληται.
ἐκεῖνοι μὲν οὖν ἐξ ἐπιβουλῆς βουλευσάμενοι λεγέτωσαν· «δεῦτε καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ.
ἐγὼ δὲ παραδοξότερον ἐρῶ· τὸ ξύλον ἐμβληθὲν εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ κρείττονα τὸν ἄρτον πεποίηκεν. παράδειγμα λαμβάνω ἀπὸ τοῦ Μωσέως νόμου· τὸ ξύλον βληθὲν εἰς τὸ πικρὸν ὕδωρ ἐποίησεν αὐτὸ . οὕτως τὸ ξύλον τοῦ πάθους Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ ἐλθὸν εἰς τὸν λόγον πεποίηκεν τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ γλυκύτερον. πρὶν ἔλθῃ γοῦν εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ τὸ ξύλον, ὅτε ἄρτος μόνον ἦν καὶ ξύλον οὐκ ἦν ἐν τῇ διδασκαλίᾳ αὐτοῦ, «εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν« οὐκ «ἐξῆλθεν ὁ φθόγγος αὐτοῦ. ἀλλ᾿ ἐπεὶ προσ- έλαβεν δύναμιν ὁ ἄρτος διὰ τοῦ ξύλου τοῦ βληθέντος εἰς αὐτόν, διὰ τοῦτο ὁ λόγος τῆς διδασκαλίας αὐτοῦ νενέμηται ὅλην τὴν οἰκουμένην. καὶ τότε τὸ ξύλον [ὃ] σύμβολον ἦν τοῦ πάθους Ἰησοῦ, δι᾿ οὗ τὸ πικρὸν ὕδωρ γλυκὺ γίνεται· ἐγὼ γὰρ λέγω ὅτι ὁ νόμος μὴ νοούμενος πικρὸν ὕδωρ ἐστίν, ἐὰν δὲ ἔλθῃ τὸ ξύλον Ἰησοῦ καὶ ἡ διδασκαλία τοῦ σωτῆρός μου ἐπιδημήσῃ, γλυκάζεται καὶ ἥδιστος γίνεται ὁ Μωσέως νόμος ἀναγινωσκόμενος καὶ γινωσκόμενος.
Εἶπον οὖν· «δεῦτε καὶ ἐμβάλωμεν ξύλον εἰς τὸν ἄρτον αὐτοῦ.
About this text
Origen on Jeremiah. Twenty Greek homilies survive. This page publishes the Pass B English for Homilies 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Homily 8 remains a machine draft and is not shipped yet. The rest of the volume is still being translated.
English follows Erich Klostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS, 1901). A second transcription of that same edition (First1KGreek TEI) was checked; where the TEI drops or garbles a line, the page image wins. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition of the Greek. Homilies that survive only in Jerome’s Latin are not on this page yet. When they are, they will be marked at those homilies.
Witnesses
- Copy-text Klostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS, 1901) (Greek · Homilies 1–20 Greek (this page: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20))
- Checked print Archive.org page image and DjVu of GCS III (Greek · Same print as the copy-text)
- Checked print First1KGreek TEI of GCS III (Greek · Same print; encoding errors deferred to the page image)
Where the prints differ
- Homily 1.1 — The TEI omits Ἑβραῖον. English follows the GCS page image: Jonah is “a Hebrew prophet.”
- Homily 1.5 — The TEI dropped Ἰσαάκ. English follows the GCS page image: Isaac born of promise.
- Homily 1.11 — The TEI/OCR of this line is garbled. English follows the GCS page image and the quoted verse: “I have sanctified you.”
- Homily 3.2 — The TEI gaps Matthew 5:45 (sun on the evil and [gap]; rain on [gap] and the unjust). English follows the Gospel wording.
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.