Share the prophets’ rest by their freedom
Those who pronounce the prophets blessed, and in blessing them pray to have their share with the prophets, gather from the prophetic words the choice things of their prophecy. They seek to be persuaded that if they live according to those things—even if something harsh meets them in this life when they imitate the prophetic life—they will obtain rest and blessedness with the prophets.
From many places one can gather the prophets’ excellences: their freedom, their taut energy, their watchfulness, their being aroused—that when circumstances came they did not worry, because of that freedom, only that they might rebuke, only that they might turn people back, as prophets do when they speak the word of God with boldness, striking those who sin, even if those being rebuked seemed able to do great things.
But even if one can do this from everywhere, let us see it also from what was read today. The prophet rebuked many, and the prophet spoke to many; for he lived among people who had become sinners, as is clear from the captivity that took place in his times. Having rebuked many, and having been judged by many, he utters such words as these.
Greek
Οἱ μακαρίζοντες τοὺς προφήτας καὶ τῷ μακαρίζειν αὐτοὺς εὐχόμενοι τὴν μερίδα ἔχειν μετὰ τῶν προφητῶν συναγαγόντως ἀπὸ τῶν λόγων τῶν προφητικῶν τὰ ἐξαίρετα τῆς προφητείας αὐτῶν· ζητοῦντες οὖν πεισθεῖεν ἂν, ἂν κατὰ αὐτὰ βιώσωσιν (εἰκαὶ σκληρὸν αὐτοῖς ἀπαντήσεται ἐν τῷ βίῳ τούτῳ μιμεῖσθαι τὸν βίον τὸν προφητικόν), ὅτι τεύξονται τῆς ἀναπαύσεως καὶ τῆς μακαριότητος μετὰ τῶν προφητῶν. πολλαχόθεν μὲν οὖν ἔστι συναγαγεῖν τὰ ἐξαίρετα | τῶν προφητῶν, τὸ ἐλεύθερον αὐτῶν, τὸ εὔτονον, τὸ ἐγρηγορός, τὸ διεγηγερμένον, ὅτι οὐκ ἐφρόντιζον ἐν ταῖς περιστάσεσι γινόμενοι διὰ τὴν ἐλευθερίαν, μόνον ἵνα ἐλέγξωσιν, ἵνα ἐπιστρέψωσιν ὡς [οἱ] προφῆται ἐκ τοῦ μετὰ παρρησίας τὸν λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ λέγειν ἐπιπληκτικῶς τῶν ἁμαρτανόντων, εἰ καὶ ἐδόκουν μεγάλα δύνασθαι οἱ ἐλεγχόμενοι. πλὴν εἰ καὶ πανταχόθεν ἔστι τοῦτο ποιεῖν, ἴδωμεν καὶ ἐκτῶν σήμερον ἀναγνωσθέντων.
Πολλοὺς ἤλεγξεν ὁ προφήτης καὶ πρὸς πολλοὺς εἶπεν ὁ προφήτης· καὶ γὰρ γένονε κατὰ ἁμαρτωλοὺς γενομένους, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν γεγονέναι κατὰ τοὺς χρόνους αὐτοῦ. πολλοὺς ἐλέγξας, ὑπὸ πολλῶν κριθεὶς φθέγγεταί τινα τοιαῦτα.
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.