Be ashamed of empty boasting before the Lord
Let us also look at the necessary rebuke next, which it is good to take up in the ethical place, saying: 'Be ashamed of your boasting, of reproach before the Lord.' There are things in which we boast through folly, though they are not worthy of boasting. For example, if someone boasts that he is rich and possesses much, one might say to him: 'Be ashamed of your boasting.'
If someone boasts of this outward nobility, it will be said to him: 'Be ashamed of your boasting.' If someone boasts of costly clothing, of a house built richly, that boasting is foreign to the boasting of the saints; therefore it will be said to such a one: 'Be ashamed of your boasting.' Hear the word of the prophet Jeremiah commanding us not to boast even in wisdom: 'Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom,' he says, 'nor the strong in his strength, nor the rich in his wealth, but let the one who boasts boast in this: understanding and knowing that I am the Lord.' Do you want to boast and, boasting, not hear 'Be ashamed of your boasting'? Boast as the apostle and say: 'Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.' Do you want to boast so that it may not be said, 'Be ashamed of your boasting'? Hear Paul boasting and learn when he says: 'Most gladly then will I boast in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may tabernacle upon me.' Hear what kinds of boasts he boasts: 'In labors more abundantly'—which of us can say this?—'in prisons beyond measure, in deaths often.'
'Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes less one; three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked.' So we learn that there are also differences among boastings—some boastings worthy of shame, of which that apostolic word might be said: 'And their glory is in their shame'—things of which they ought to be ashamed, and about these they suppose they are glorified.
Greek
Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ ἐξῆς ἐπίπληξιν ἀναγκαίαν, ἣν καλὸν εἰς τὸν ἠθικὸν τόπον ἀναλαβεῖν, λέγουσαν· «αἰσχύνθητε ἀπὸ καυχήσεως ὑμῶν, ἀπὸ ὀνειδισμοῦ ἐναντίον κυρίου. ἔστιν τινά, ἐν οἷς καυχώμεθα διὰ τὴν ἄνοιαν οὐκ οὖσιν καυχήσεως ἀξίοις. οἷον ἐὰν καυχήσηταί τις ὅτι πλούσιός ἐστιν καὶ πολλὰ κέκτηται, λέγοιτ' ἂν πρὸς αὐτόν· «αἰσχύνθητε ἀπὸ καυχήσεως ὑμῶν‘.
ἐὰν καυχήσηταί τις ἐπὶ εὐγενείᾳ ταύτῃ τῇ ἐκτός, λεχθήσεται πρὸς αὐτόν· «αἰσχύνθητε ἀπὸ καυχήσεως ὑμῶν.« ἐὰν καυχήσηταί τις ἐπὶ πολυτελείᾳ ἱματίων, ἐπὶ οἰκοδομῇ οἰκίας πλουσίως κατεσκευασμένης, ἀλλοτρία ἐστὶν ἡ καύχησις καυχήσεως ἁγίων· διὸ λεχθήσεται πρὸς τὸν τοιοῦτον· «αἰσχύνθητε ἀπὸ καυχήσεως ὑμῶν.‘ ἄκουε τοῦ λόγου τοῦ προφήτου Ἱερεμίου κελεύοντος ἡμᾶς μὴ καυχᾶσθαι μηδὲ ἐπὶ σοφίᾳ· μὴ καυχάσθω« γάρ φησιν «ὁ σοφὸς ἐν τῇ σοφίᾳ αὐτοῦ μηδὲ ὁ ἰσχυρὸς ἐν τῇ ἰσχύϊ αὐτοῦ μηδὲ ὁ πλούσιος έν τῷ πλούτῳ αὐτοῦ, ἀλλὰ ἐν τούτῳ καυχάσθω ὁ καυχώμενος, συνιεῖν καὶ γινώσκειν ὅτι ἐγώ εἰμι κύριος.« θέλεις καυχᾶσθαι καὶ καυχώμενος μὴ ἀκοῦσαι· «αἰσχύνθητε ἀπὸ καυχήσεως ὑμῶν«, καύχησαι ὡς ὁ ἀπόστολος Ι καὶ εἰπέ· «ἐμοὶ δὲ μὴ γένοιτο καυχᾶσθαι εἰ μὴ τῷ σταυρῷ τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, δἰ οὗ ἐμοὶ κόσμος ἐσταύρωται κἀγὼ τῷ κόσμῳ.« θέλεις καυχᾶσθαι, ἴνα μὴ λεχθῇ· αἰσχύνθητε ἀπὸ καυχήσεως ὑμῶν«, ἄκουε Παύλου καυχωμένου καὶ μάνθανε ὅταν λέγῃ· «ἥδιστα οὖν καυχήσομαι ἐν ταῖς ἀσθενείαις μου, ἵνα ἐπισκηνώσῃ ἐπ' ἐμὲ ἡ δύναμις τοῦ Χριστοῦ. ἄκουε οἷα καυχᾶται καυχήματα· «ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως‘« (τίς δύναται ἡμῶν τοῦτο «ἐν φυλακαῖς ὑπερβαλλόντως, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις.
ὑπ·ὸ πεντάκις τεσσαράκοντα παρὰ μίαν ἔλαβον, τρὶς ἐραβδίσθην, ἅπαξ ἐλιθάσθην, τρὶς ἐναυάγησα. μανθάνομεν οὐν καὶ καυχήσεων εἶναι διαφοράς. ὡς τινὰς μὲν καυχήσεις εἶναι αἰσχύνης ἀξίας, ἐφ' οἶς λέγοιτ ἂν ἐκεῖνο τὸ ἀποστολικόν· «καὶ ἡ δόξα ἐν τῇ αἰσχύνῃ αὐτῶν«· ἐφ οἷς ἔδει. αὐτοὺς αἰσχύνεσθαι, ἐπὶ τούτοις οἴονται δοξάζεσθαι.
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.