Sowing wheat and reaping thorns; lots that do not save
It is said to those who have sinned: 'Sow wheat and reap thorns.' For even if they deal with the oracles of God, those who do not deal with them well, nor live as they ought, nor believe, sow wheat and reap thorns. Especially this can be understood of the heterodox who meet the Scriptures and reap thorns not from the Scriptures but from their own inventions. 'Their lots will not benefit them.' Others have also explained these things. And since we do not reject their explanation, we fairly bring it into the open—not as ourselves discovering it but as having learned a good lesson. This word will benefit both you and us if we pay attention to what is written—we who seem to be of a certain lot, seated in front of you, so that some want to come into this lot.
But know that the lot does not save in every case. For many elders too will perish, and many of the laity will be shown blessed.
Since then there are some in the lot who do not live so as to be benefited and to adorn the lot, therefore, say those who explained it, it is written: 'Their lots will not benefit them.' For what benefits is not the mere sitting in the eldership, but living worthily of the place, as the word requires. The word requires you also to live well, and us. But if one may put it so—'the mighty will be examined mightily'—more is required of me than of the deacon, more of the deacon than of the layperson, and the one entrusted with the rule of us all, the church's rule itself, is required still more. Therefore the apostle who was entrusted with great things says—listen—'Let a person regard us as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.'
Here then seek among the stewards that someone faithful be found. And so rare it is to find a steward faithful and good.
Jesus, 'who knows all things before their coming to be,' says: 'Who then is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his lord will set over his household to give the measure of grain to his servants in season?' Then he blames certain stewards and says: 'But if that wicked servant begins to say, “My lord delays to come,” and begins to beat his fellow servants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the lord of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in two, and assign his portion with the unfaithful.' So much for 'Their lots will not benefit them.'
Greek
Λέγεται δὲ τοῖς ἡμαρτηκόσιν· «σπείρετε πυροὺς καὶ ἀκάνθας θερίζετε«· κἂν γὰρ έν] τοῖς λογίοις τοῦ θεοῦ ὁμιλῶσιν, οἱ μὴ καλώς αὐτοῖς ὁμιλοῦντες μηδὲ ὃν δεῖ τρόπον βιοῦντες μηδὲ πιστεύοντες σπείρουσιν πυροὺς καὶ θερίζουσιν ἀκάνθας. μάλιστα δὲ ἔστιν ταῦτα νοῆσαι ἐπὶ τῶν ἑτεροδόξων ἑντυγχανόντων ταῖς γραφαῖς καὶ ἀκάνθας οὐκ ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν, ἀλλ’ ἀπὸ τῶν ἰδίων ἐπινοιῶν θεριζόντων. «οἱ κλῆροι αὐτῶν οὐκ ὠφελήσουσιν αὐτούς. ταῦτα καὶ ἄλλοι διηγήσαντο. καὶ ἐπειδὴ οὐκ ἀποδοκιμάζομεν αὐτῶν τὴν διήγησιν. εὐγνωμόνως φέρομεν αὐτὴν εἰς μέσον, οὐχ ὡς αὐτοὶ εὑρόντες ἀλλ ὡς μεμαθηκότες καλὸν μάθημα. οὗτος ὁ λόγος ὠφελήσει καὶ ὑμᾶς καὶ ἡμᾶς, ἐὰν Ι προσέχωμεν τῷ γεγραμμένῳ, οἳ δοκοῦμεν εἶναι ἀπὸ κλήρου τινὲς προκαθεζόμενοι ὑμῶν, ὥστε τινὰς θέλειν ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὸν κλῆρον τοῦτον.
ἴστε δὲ ὅτι οὐ πάντως ὁ κλῆρος σῴζει· πολλοὶ γὰρ καὶ πρεσβύτεροι ἀπολοῦνται, πολλοὶ καὶ λαϊκοὶ μακάριοι ἀποδειχθήσονται.
ἐπεὶ οὖν τινές εἰσιν ἐν κλήρῳ οὐχ οὕτως βιοῦντες ὥστε ὠφεληθῆναι καὶ κοσμῆσαι τὸν κλῆρον, διὰ τοῦτο, φασὶν οἱ διηγησά- μενοι, γέγραπται. «οἱ κλῆροι αὐτῶν οὐκ ὠφελήσουσιν αὐτούς‘· τὸ γὰρ ὠφελοῦν οὐκ αὐτὸ τὸ καθέζεσθαι ἐν πρεσβυτερίῳ ἐστίν, ἀλλὰ τὸ βιοῦν ἀξίως τοῦ τόπου, ὡς ἀπαιτεῖ ὁ λόγος. ἀπαιτεῖ καὶ ὑμᾶς βιοῦν ὁ λόγος καλῶς καὶ ἡμᾶς. ἀλλ’ εἰ δεῖ οὕτως εἰπεῖν, «δυνατοὶ δυνατῶς ἐτασθήσοντα«, πλεῖον ἐγὼ ἀπαιτοῦμαι παρὰ τὸν διάκονον, πλεῖον ὁ διάκονος παρὰ τὸν λαϊκόν, ὁ δὲ τὴν πάντων ἡμῶν ἐγκεχειρισμένος μένος ἀρχὴν αὑτὴν τὴν ἐκκλησιαστικὴν ἔτι πλεῖον ἀπαιτεῖται. διὰ τοῦτο ὁ πεπιστευμένος τὰ μεγάλα ὁ ἀπόστολος, ἀκούετε, φησίν· «οὕτως ἡμᾶς λογιζέσθω ἄνθρωπος ὡς ὑπηρέτας Χριστοῦ καὶ οἰκονόμους μυστηρίων θεοῦ.
ὡδε λοιπὸν ζητεῖτε ἐν τοῖς οἰκονόμοις ἵνα πιστός τις εὑρεθῇ. καὶ οὕτως σπάνιόν ἐστιν εὑρεθῆναι οἰκονόμον πιστὸν καὶ καλόν.
Ἰησοῦς «ὁ εἰδὼς τὰ πάντα πρὶν γενέσεως αὐτῶν« λέγει· «τίς ἄρα ἐστὶν ὁ πιστὸς οἰκονόμος καὶ φρόνιμος, ὅν καταστήσει ὁ κύριος αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκίας αὐτοῦ διδόναι ἐν καιρῷ τὸ σιτομέτριον τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ«; εἶτα μέμφεταί τινας οἰκονόμους καὶ λέγει. «ἐὰν δὲ ἄρξηται ὁ κακὸς δοῦλος λέγειν. χρονίζει μου ὁ κύριος ἔρχεσθαι, καὶ ἄρξηται τύπτειν τοὺς συνδούλους αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς παιδίσκας, ἐσθίειν τε καὶ πίνειν καὶ μεθύσκεσθαι· ἥξει ὁ κύριος τοῦ δούλου ἐκείνου ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ᾐ οὐ προσδοκᾷ καὶ ἐν ὥρᾳ ᾐ οὐ γινώσκει καὶ διχοτομήσει αὐτόν, καὶ τὸ μέρος αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀπίστων θήσει. ταῦτα μὲν εἰς τὸ «οἱ κλῆροι αὐτῶν οὐκ ὠφελήσουσιν αὐτούς.
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.