I sat alone and was filled with bitternesses
'I was sitting alone.' And the words are managed here. Whenever there is a multitude of sinners and they do not bear the righteous living righteously, it is not out of place for one fleeing the council of wickedness to imitate the one who said: 'I was sitting alone,' to imitate also Elijah who says: 'Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have dug down your altars, and I alone have been left, and they seek my soul to take it.' And perhaps even if you examine more deeply 'I was sitting alone,' you will find some mind worthy of prophetic depth. Whenever we imitate the life of the many, so as not to be withdrawn and better and exceptional beside the many, I cannot say: 'I was sitting alone,' but: I was sitting with many.
But when my life becomes hard to imitate, so that I become so great that no one is near me in character, in word, in deeds, in wisdom, then I can say—because of being alone such and no one imitating me—'I was sitting alone.'
So it is possible even if you are not an elder and not a bishop and not honored with some church honor to say this, to zealously imitate 'I was sitting alone' and take up a life so as to say: 'I was sitting alone.' 'Because I was filled with bitternesses.' If 'narrow and afflicted is the way,' how does your feast come to be with bitter herbs? For when you feast, it says 'you shall eat unleavened breads upon bitter herbs.' What the word wants saying that the one feasting to God must eat 'unleavened breads upon bitter herbs' must be considered. The apostle interpreted the unleavened breads; the interpretation is not mine; but what follows of the interpretation must necessarily be near the apostolic interpretation.
The apostle interpreted the things about the unleavened breads saying: 'Let us feast not in old leaven nor in leaven of wickedness and evil, but in unleavened breads of sincerity and truth.' It is necessary to give the account about the bitter herbs following upon the unleavened breads being of sincerity and truth. Have sincerity and truth, and bitter herbs will be yours, and you eat with bitter herbs the unleavened breads of sincerity and truth—as Paul. Since he ate the unleavened breads of sincerity and truth, he also ate bitter herbs. How did he eat bitter herbs? Saying 'I have become your enemy speaking truly to you.' How did he eat bitter herbs? 'In toil and labor, and in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, apart from the things besides.'
So the law said: 'You shall eat unleavened breads with bitter herbs'; and it did not say: you shall eat unleavened breads with bitter herbs until you are filled, as upon certain other things it has been said: 'You shall eat and be filled.' But the prophet presses further saying that I did not eat bitterness, but 'I was filled with bitternesses'; as much strength as there was I partook of bitter affairs, so as to partake with the fullest bitter herbs.
Greek
«Κατὰ μόνας ἐκαθήμην. καὶ τὰ ῥήματα ἐνταῦθα οἰκοκομεῖ. ὅταν πλῆθος ᾖ ἁμαρτωλῶν καὶ μὴ φέρωσι τὸν δίκαιον βιοῦντα | δικαίως, οὐδὲν ἄτοπόν ἐστι φεύγοντα τὸ συνέδριον τῆς κακίας μιμήσασθαι τὸν εἰπόντα· «κατὰ μόνας ἐκαθήμην«, μιμήσασθαι καὶ τὸν λέγοντα Ἡλίαν· «κύριε, τοὺς προφήτας σου ἀπέκτειναν, τὰ θυσιαστήριά σου κατέσκαψαν, κἀγῶ ὑπελείφθην μονώτατος, καὶ ζητοῦσι τὴν ψυχῆν μου λαβεῖν αὐτήν. τάχα δὲ κἂν βαθύτερον ἐξετάσῃς τὸ «κατὰ μόνας ἐκαθήμην«, εὑρήσεις τινὰ ἄξιον νοῦν βάθους προφητικοῦ. ὅταν τὸν τῶν πολλῶν βίον μμιμώμεθα, ὥστε μὴ εἶναι ἀνακεχωρηκότα αὐτὸν καὶ κρείττονα καὶ ἐξαίρετον παρὰ τοὺς πολλούς, οὐ δύναμαι λέγειν· «κατὰ μόνας ἐκαθήμην«, ἀλλά· μετὰ πολλῶν ἐκαθήμην.
ἐπὰν δὲ ὁ βίος μου γένηται δυσμίμητος, ὥστε με τηλικοῦτον γενέσθαι, ὡς μηδένα παραπλήσιον εἶναί μου τῷ ἤθει, τῷ λόγῳ, ταῖς πράξεσι, τῇ σοφίᾳ, τότε δύναμαι λέγειν παὰ τὸ μόνος εἶναι τοιόσδε καὶ μηδένα μιμήσασθαί με τὸ «κατὰ μμόνας ἐκθήμην.
ἔξεστιν οὖν καὶ μὴ ὄντα σε πρεσβύτερον καὶ μὴ ὄντα σε ἐπίσκοπον μηδέ τινι τιμῇ ἐκκλησιαστικῇ τετιμημένον εἰπεῖν τοῦτο, τὸ «κατὰ μόνας ἐκαθή΄μην« ζηλῶσαι καὶ βίον ἀναλαβεῖν ὥστε εἰπεὶν· «κατὰ μόνας ἐκαθήμην. «Ὅτι πικρίας ἐνεπλήσθην. εἰ «στενὴ καὶ τεθλιμμένη ἡ ὁδὸς ἡ ἑορτή σου μετὰ πικρίδων γίνεται; ὅταν γὰρ ἑορτάζῃς, «ἄζυμα« φησὶν «ἐπὶ πικρίδων φάγεσαι. τί βούλεται ὁ λόγος λέγων ὅτι δεὶ τὸν ἑορτάζοντα τῷ θεῷ «ἄζυμα ἐπὶ πικρίδων« ἐσθίειν, κατανοητέον. τὰ μὲν ἄζυμα διηγήσατο ὁ ἀπόστολος, οὐκ ἔστιν ἐμὴ ἡ ἑρμηνεία· τὸ δὲ ἀκόλουθον τῆς ἑρμηνείας ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι παραπλήσιον εἶναι τῇ ἀποστολικῇ διηγήσει.
ὁ ἀπόστολος τὰ περὶ τῶν ἀζύμων διηγήσατο λέγων· «ἑορτάζωμεν μὴ ἐν ζύμῃ παλαιᾷ μηδὲ ἐν ζύμῃ κακίας καὶ πονηρίας, ἀλλ᾿ ἐν ἀζύμοις εἰλικρινείας καὶ ἀληθείας. δέον ἐστὶν ἀποδοῦναι τὸν λόγον περὶ τῶν πικρίδων ἀκολούθως τῷ τὰ ἄζυμα εῑναι εἰλικρινείας καὶ ἀληθείας. ἔχε δὲ εἰλικρίνειαν καὶ ἀλήθειαν, καὶ πικρίδες ἔσονταί σοι, καὶ ἐσθίεις μετὰ πικρίδων τὰ ἄζυμα τῆς εἰλικρινείας καὶ ἀληθείας, οἷον Παῦλος. ἐπειδήπερ ἤσθιε τὰ ἄζυμα εἰλικοινείας καὶ ἀληθείας, καὶ πικρίδας ἤσθιε. πῶς πικρίδας ἤσθιε; λέγων «ἐχθρὸς ὑμῶν γέγονα ἀληθεύων ὑμῖν. πῶς πικρίδας ἤσθιεν; «ἐν κόπῳ καὶ μόχθῳ, καὶ ἐν ἀγρυπνίαις πολλάκις, ἐν λιμῷ καὶ δίψει, χωρὶς τῶν παρεκτός.
ὁ μὲν οὖν νόμος εἶπεν· 〉ἄζυμα μετὰ πικρίδων ἔδεσθε ἔδεσθε〈· καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν· ἄζυμα μετὰ πικρίδων ἔδεσθε, ἕως ἐμπλησθῆτε, ὥσπερ ἐπί τινων ἄλλων λέλεκται· «φάγεσθε καὶ ἐμπλησθήσεσθε. ὁ δὲ προφήτης προσεπιτείνει λέγων ὅτι οὐχὶ πικρίαν ἔφαγον, ἀλλὰ «πικρίας ἐνεπλήσθην«· ὅση δύναμις τῶν πικρῶν μετελάμβανον πραγμάτων, ὥστε με[τὰ] πληρεστάτων πικρίδων μεταλβεῖν.
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.