I owed nothing, and no one owed me
I want to see what follows. It can be referred both to the prophet, according to one narrative, and to the Savior. Let us look also at what comes next: 'I owed nothing, and no one owed me.' 'The ruler of this world comes, and he has nothing in me.' And truly he owed nothing. But each of us is a debtor by sins and a debtor holding a certificate of debt. After his certificate has been wiped out, how many certificates have they made again? 'He who did no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth,' made no certificate of debt.
And what of 'no one owed me'? How shall we explain this of the Savior—'no one owed me'? Even if we have read it this way, we must also know that most copies of the Seventy’s edition do not have it so; later, when we examined the remaining editions as well, we learned that it is a scribal error. And yet—'not even one' to me. So that not even one owed him anything: he forgave all their debts. 'A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they had nothing to repay, he forgave them both.'
Do you want to see the two debtors—the one who owed five hundred and the one who owed fifty? From two peoples they have believed in God. The people from the Jews, unbelieving toward Christ, owes the fifty; perhaps we from the nations, who have become more impious than all, owe the five hundred—those of whom it is also said concerning that repentant woman. And yet someone might ask how the five hundred is referred to her. From the word 'and what sort of woman is this who touches him,' to which he said to Simon: 'A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, the other fifty,' and what follows.
These things because of 'I owed nothing, and no one owed me,' which it was necessary to set before you. 'I owed nothing, and no one owed me; my strength failed among those who curse me.' Even if he died 'from weakness, yet he lives from the power of God.'
Greek
Τὸ ἑξῆς θέλω ἰδεῖν. δύναται καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν προφήτην κατὰ μίαν διήγησιν ἀναφέρεσθαι καὶ ἐπὶ τὸν σωτῆρα. ἴδωμεν καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς· «οὐκ ὠφείλησα οὐδὲ ὠφείλησέ μοι οὐδείς. «ἔρχεται ὁ ἄρχων τοῦ κόσμου τούτου, οὐκ ἔχει δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ οὐδέν. καὶ ἀληθῶς οὐκ ὠφείλησεν.
ἕκαστος δὲ ἠμῶν ὀφειλέτης ἐστὶ ταῖς ἁμαρτίαις καὶ ὀφειλέτης ἐστὶν ἔχων χειρόγραφον. μετὰ τὸ ἐξαλειφθῆναι αὐτοῦ τὸ χειρόγραφον † πόσα πεποιήκασι χειρόγραφα; «ὃς ἁμαρτίαν οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ εὑρέθη δόλος ἐν τῷ στόματι αὐτοῦ«, οὐκ ἐποίησε χειρόγραφον. τί δὲ καὶ τὸ «οὐκ ὠφείλησέ μοι οὐδὲ εἷς«; πῶς διηγησόμεθα ἐπὶ τοῦ σωτῆρος τὸ «οὐκ ὠφείλησέ μοι οὐδὲ εἷς«; εἰ καὶ ἀνέγνωμεν οὕτως, ἀλλὰ καὶ δεῖ εἰδέναι ὅτι τὰ πλείονα τῶν ἀντιγράφων τῆς ἐκδόσεως τῶν Ἑβδομήκοντα οὐκ ἔχει οὕτως, ὕστερον δὲ ἐπισκεψάμενοι καὶ τὰς λοιπὰς ἐκδόσεις ἔγνωμεν γραφικὸν εἶναι ἁμάρτημα. καίτοιγε μοι οὐδὲ εἷς«; ὤστε οὐκ ὠφείλησεν αὐτῷ «οὐδὲ εἷς«, πᾶσι τὰ ὀφειλήματα αὐτῶν ἀφῆκεν. «ἀνθρώπῳ δανειστῷ χρεωφειλέται ἦσαν δύο· εἷς ὤφειλε δηνάρια πεντακόσια, ὁ δὲ ἕτερος πεντήκοντα. μὴ ἐχόντων αὐτῶν ἀποδοῦναι, ἀμφοτέρος ἐχαρίσατο. θέλεις ἰδεῖν τοὺς δύο χρεωφειλέτας, τὸν τὰ πεντακόσια ὀφείλοντα καὶ τὸν τὰ πεντήκοντα; ἀπὸ δύο λαῶν πεπιστεύκασιν εἰς τὸν θεόν· ὁ ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων λαὸς ἀπιστῶν εἰς τὸν Χριστὸν ὀφείλει τὰ πεντήκοντα, τάχαἡμεῖς οἱ ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν οἱ πάντων ἀσεβέστεροι γεγενημένοι τὰ πεντακόσια, ἐφ᾿ οἷς καὶ λέγεται τὸ ἐπὶ τῇ πόρνῃ ἐκείνῃ τῇ μετανοούσῃ. καίτοι εἴποι τις ἄν, πῶς τὰ πεντακόσια ἐπ᾿ ἐκείνην ἀναφέρεται; ἐκ τοῦ «καὶ ποταπὴ ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἁπτομένη αὐτοῦ«, πρὸς ὃ εἴρηκε τῷ Σίμωνι· «ἀνθρώπῳ δανειστῇ ἦσαν χρεωφειλέται δύο. εἷς ὤφειλε δηνάρια πεντακόσια, ὁ ἕτερος πεντήκοντα« καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς. ταῦτα διὰ τὸ «οὐκ ὠφείλησα οὐδὲ ὠφείλησέ μοι οὐδείς«, ὃ ἦν ἀναγκαῖον παραστῆσαι ὑμῖν. «οὐκ ὠφείλησα, οὐδὲ ὠφείλησέ μοι οὐδείς· ἡ ἰσχύς μου ἐξέλιπεν ἐν τοῖς καταρωμένοις | | με. εἰ καὶ ἀπέθανεν «ἐξ ἀσθενείας, ἀλλὰ ζῇ ἐκ δυνάμεως θεοῦ.
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.