The Savior’s “woe” in his humanity
First one must speak about the 'woe'—whether because of its ill-sounding character the Savior can say 'woe,' he who also pronounces woes on others. We will set out from agreed sayings, which fit no one but the Savior, how he also wept over Jerusalem; and the voice of one weeping is 'woe.' And it lies in the Gospel that seeing Jerusalem he wept over it and said: 'Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children,' and what follows. And clearly these too were spoken by the Savior in the 'Woe that I became as one gathering stubble in harvest and as gleaning in vintage, there being no ear to eat the firstfruits. Woe, soul, that the devout has perished from the earth, and the one who walks upright among humans does not exist. All are judged for bloodshed.'
For he came as one gathering stubble into a harvest in order to reap, and finds many sinners and says: 'Woe that I became as one gathering stubble in harvest.'
He came to vintage fruit of life among humans; he finds many sins in us and for this reason says: 'And as gleaning in vintage, there being no ear to eat the firstfruits.' And elsewhere he says something near these things to the Father: 'What benefit is there in my blood, in my going down into corruption?' What great benefit have I given humans? What worthy of the blood which I poured out for them have they done? 'What benefit is there in my blood, in my going down' from heavens? I have gone down; I came upon the earth; I gave myself over to corruption; I wore a human body; what worthy of them has been set right for humans? 'What benefit is there in my blood, in my going down into corruption? Will dust confess you, or announce your truth?' Such then is also what is said here first by the Savior: 'Woe is me, mother, as whom did you bear me, a man?' Not as God does the Savior say 'Woe is me, mother,' but as human, as in the prophet: 'Woe, soul, that the devout has perished from the earth.'
And the soul was human; for this reason it was also troubled, for this reason it was also deeply grieved. But the Word who was in the beginning with God is not troubled; that one would not say 'woe.' For the Word does not admit death, but it is the human that admitted this, as we have often set out.
Greek
Πρῶτον λεκτέον περὶ τοῦ «οἴμοι«, εἰ διὰ τὸ δυσφημοειδὲς δύναται ὁ σωτὴρ λέγειν ὁ καὶ ταλανίζων ἑτέρους τὸ «οἴμοι. παραστήσομεν δὲ ἀπὸ ὁμολογουμένων λέξεων, αἵτινες οὐκ ἁρμόζουσιν ἄλλῳ ἢ τῷ σωτῆρι, τίνα τρόπον καὶ ἔκλαυσεν ἐπὶ τὴν Ἱερουσαλήμ· κλαίοντος δὲ φωνή ἐστι τὸ «οἴμοι. καὶ κεῖται ἐν τῷ εὐαγγελίῳ ὅτι ἰδὼν τὴν Ἱερουσαλὴμ ἔκλαυσεν ἐπ᾿ αὐτὴν καὶ εἶπεν· «Ἱερουσαλὴμ Ἱερουσαλήμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνουσα τοὺς προφήτας καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένου πρὸς αὐτήν, ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου« και τὰ ἑξῆς. σαφῶς δὲ καὶ ταῦτα ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος λέλεκται ἐν τῷ «οἴμοι ὅτι ἐγενήθην ὡς συνάγων καλάμην ἐν ἀμητῷ καὶ ὡς ἐπιφυλλίδα ἐν τρυγῆτῷ, οὐκ ὄντος στάχυος τοῦ φαγεῖν τὰ πρωτόγονα. οἴμοι ψυχή, ὅτι ἀπόλωλεν εὐλαβὴς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς, καὶ ὁ κατορθῶν ἐν ἀνθρώποις οὐχ ὑπάρχει. πάντες εἰς αἵματα δικάζονται.
ἦλθε γὰρ [ὡς συνάγων καλάμην] εἰς ἀμητὸν ἵνα θερίσῃ, καὶ εὑρίσκει πολλοὺς ἁμαρτωλοὺς καὶ λέγει· «οἴμοι ὅτι ἐγενήθην ὡς συνάγων καλάμην ἐν ἀμητῷ.
ἦλθε τρυγῆσαι καρπὸν ζωῆς ἐν τοῖς ἀνθρώποις, εὑρίσκει πολλὰ ἁμαρτήματα ἐν ἡμῖν καὶ διὰ τοῦτο λέγει· «καὶ ὡς ἐπιφυλλίδα ἐν τρυγητῷ, οὐκ ὄντος στάχυος τοῦ φαγεῖν τὰ πρωτόγονα. φησὶ καὶ ἀλλαχοῦ τὸ παραπλήσιον τούτοις πρὸς τὸν πατέρα λέγων· «τίς ὠφέλεια ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου, ἐν τῷ καταβῆναί με εἰς διαφθοράν;« τί ὠφέλησα τηλικοῦτο τοὺς ἀνθρώπους; τί ἄξιον τοῦ αἵματος, οὗ ἐξέχεα ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν, πεποιήκασι; «τίς ὠφέλεια ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου, ἐν τῷ καταβῆναί με« ἐξ οὐρανῶν; καταβέβηκα, ἦλθον ἐπὶ τὴν γῆν, ἐπέδωκα ἐμαυτὸν διαφθορᾷ, ἐφόρεσα σῶμα ἀνθρώπινον· τί αὐτῶν ἄξιον κατώρθωται τοῖς ἀνθρώποις; «τίς ὠφέλεια ἐν τῷ αἵματί μου, ἐν τῷ καταβῆναί με εἰς διαφθοράν; μὴ ἐξομολογήσεταί σοι χοῦς, ἢ ἀναγγελεῖ τὴν ἀλήθειάν σου«; τοιοῦτο οὖν ἐστι καὶ τὸ ἐνθάδε πρῶτον ὑπὸ τοῦ σωτῆρος λεγόμενον τὸ «οἴμοι ἐγώ, μῆτερ, ὡς τίνα με ἔτεκες ἄνδρα«; οὐχὶ ᾗ θεὸς ὁ σωτὴρ λέγει τὸ «οἴμοι ἐγώ, μῆτερ« ἀλλ᾿ ᾗ ἄνθρωπος, ὡς ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ· «οἴμοι ψυχή, ὅτι ἀπόλωλεν εὐλαβὴς ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς.
ἡ δὲ ψυχὴ ἀνθρωπίνη ἦν, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ τετάρακται, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ περίλυπος ἦν. ὁ δὲ λόγος ὁ ἐν ἀρχῇ πρὸςτὸν θεὸν οὐ τετάρακται, ἐκεῖνος οὐκ ἂν λέγοι τὸ «οἴμοι. οὐδὲ γὰρ ὁ λόγος ἐπιδέχεται θάνατον, ἀλλὰ τὸ ἀνθρώπινόν ἐστι τὸ τοῦτο ἐπιδεξάμενον, ὡς πολλάκις παρεστήσαμεν.
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.