Stay in the clefts; treasure in heaven
But I need an example, that I may show how it is possible, having come upon an angel, to see God through an angel. For it is written in Exodus: 'An angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire from a bush.' And Moses sees that the bush burns with fire, and the bush is not consumed. And Scripture did not say, as it said at the beginning that 'an angel appeared,' that thus it remained only an angel of the Lord, but: 'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.' So God was there being contemplated in the angel, as God is known through the rock and through the hole in it.
You do not know, then, when the hunters are sent. For this reason never come down from the mountains, nor leave the hills, nor be outside the clefts of the rocks; for if you are found outside, it will be said to you as to one who is outside and saying the things of those outside: 'Fool, this night they require your soul from you; and the things you prepared, whose will they be?' And these things will also be said to you if you say: 'I will pull down my storehouses and build greater ones, and I will say to my soul: Soul, you have goods laid up for many years; rest, eat, drink, be merry.'
You see the one below the mountains, below the hills, outside the clefts of the rocks, how he wanders even in the judgment about goods, thinking these things are goods. Therefore he says: 'And I will say to my soul: Soul, you have goods laid up for many years.' He has judged the grain and the abundance of earthly things to be goods; for he did not see that the truly good things are not in the cursed earth, but the truly good things are in heaven. He was treasuring on earth, because he thought the things on earth were goods. But if someone turns from treasuring 'on earth,' persuaded by Jesus, to treasuring 'in heaven,' it will not be said to him: 'Fool, this night they require your soul from you,' but the hunters, coming and seeking not the things below but the living things in the mountains, in the hills, those sheltered in the clefts of the rocks, will seize them and lead them away from that hunt—where?—to the rest of the holy and blessed in Christ Jesus.
For 'my eyes,' he says, 'are upon all their ways.' Upon such as these—those who make their sojourns upon the mountains and in the hills and in the clefts of the rocks—God has his eyes upon all the ways. 'And they were not hidden from my face'—such as these; for the base hide from the face of God. Adam, after the transgression, heard 'the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the afternoon' and hid; but the holy one is not hidden, but has a heart with boldness toward God according to the holy way of life. For 'if our conscience does not condemn us, we have boldness toward God, and whatever we ask we receive from him.' Adam, then, even if he sinned, did not sin unto an exceedingly harsh sin; for this reason he hid from the face of God. But Cain, more sinful than he and most impious, the brother-killer—what did he do? 'He went out from the face of God.' So that by comparison of evils, to hide from the face of God is the lesser; for even this one hides not brazenly, but ashamed before God. 'They were not hidden,' then, 'from my face.' These who have done these things were once in sins and were fished from the sins that were in the sea.
Greek
ἀλλὰ παραδείγματός μοι χρεία, ἵνα παραστήσω, πῶς ἔστιν ἐλθόντα ἐπὶ ἄγγελον καὶ δι᾿ ἀγγέλου τὸν θεὸν ἰδεῖν. γέγραπται γὰρ ἐν τῇ Ἐξόδῳ· «ὤφθη ἄγγελος κυρίου ἐν φλογὶ πυρὸς βάτου τῷ Μωσεῖ. καὶ ὁρᾷ Μωσῆς, ὁτι ὁ βάτος καίεται πυρί, καὶ ὁ βάτος οὐ κατακαίεται. καὶ οὐκ εἶπεν ἡ γραφή, ὥσπερ εἶπε κατὰ τὴν ἀρχην ὅτι «ὤφθη ἄγγελος«, οὕτως εἶπεν ὅτι ἄγγελος κυρίου, ἀλλ᾿ «ἐγὼ θεὸς Ἀβραὰμ καὶ θεὸς Ἰσαὰκ καὶ θεὸς Ἰακώβ. ἦν οὖν ἐκεῖ ὁ θεὸς ἐν τῷ ἀγγέλῳ θεωρούμενος, ὡς διὰ τῆς πέτρας θεὸς γινωσκόμενος καὶ τῆς ὀπῆς τῆς ἐν αὐτῷ.
Οὐκ οἶδας οὖν, πότε πέμπονται οἱ θηρευταί. διὰ τοῦτο μηδέποτε ἀπὸ τῶν ὀρέων καταβῇς μηδὲ καταλίπῃς τοὺς βουνοὺς μηδὲ ἔξω 20 γίνου τῶν τρυμαλιῶν τῶν πετρῶν· ἐὰν γὰρ ἔξω εὑρεθῇς, λεχθήσεταί σοι ὡς ἔξω τυγχάνοντι καὶ λέγοντι τὰ τῶν ἔξω· «ἄφρον, ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ ἀπαιτοῦσι τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπὸ σοῦ· ἅ δὲ ἡτοίμασας, τίνι ἔσται«; λεχθήσεται [σοι ταῦτα· λεχθήσεται] δέ σοι [καὶ] ταῦτα, ἐὰν φάσκῃς· «καθελῶ μου τὰς ἀποθήκας καὶ μείζονας οἰκοδομήσω, καὶ ἐρῶ τῇ ψυχῇ μου· ψυχή, ἔχεις ἀγαθὰ κείμενα εἰς ἔτη πολλά· ἀναπαύου, φάγε, πίε, εὐφραίνου.
ὁρᾷς τὸν κάτω τῶν ὀρέων, τὸν κάτω τῶν βουνῶν, τὸν ἔξω τῶν τρυμαλιῶν τῶν πετρῶν, πῶς πλανᾶται καὶ ἐν τῇ περὶ ἀγαθῶν κρίσει, οἰόμενος ταῦτα εἶναι ἀγαθά. διό φησι· «καὶ ἐρῶ τῇ ψυχῇ μοῦ· ψυχή, ἔχεις ἀγαθὰ κείμενα εἰς ἔτη πολλά. τὸν σῖτον καὶ τὴν εὐφορίαν τῶν γηΐνων ἀγαθὰ εἶναι νενόμικεν· οὐ γὰρ εἶδεν ὅτι τὰ ἀληθῶς ἀγαθὰ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν τῇ κατηραμένῃ γῇ, ἀλλὰ τὰ ἀληθῶς ἀγαθά ἐστιν ἐν οὐρανῷ. ἐθησαύριζεν ἐπὶ γῆς, [καὶ] ἐπεὶ ᾤετο ἀγαθὰ εἶναι τὰ ἐπὶ γῆς.
ἐὰν δέ τις μεταβῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ θησαυρίζειν «ἐπὶ γῆς«, πειθ;μενος τῷ Ἰησοῦ, εἰς τὸ θησαυρίζειν «ἐν οὐρανῷ«, οὐ λεχθήσεται αὐτῷ· «ἄφρον, [τί] ταύτῃ τῇ νυκτὶ ἀπαιτοῦσι τὴν ψυχήν σου ἀπὸ σοῦ«, ἀλλ᾿ ἐλθόντες οἱ θηρευταί, ζητοῦντες οὐ τὰ κάτω ἀλλὰ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσι ζῶα, τὰ ἐν τοῖς βουνοῖς, τὰ ἐν ταῖς τρυμαλιαῖς τῶν πετρῶν σκεπαζόμενα, συλλήψονται ταῦτα καὶ ἀπάξουσιν αὐτὰ ἀπὸ τῆς θήρας ἐκείνης.
ὅπου; ἐπὶ τὴν ἀνάπαυσιν τῶν ἁγίων καὶ μακαρίων ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ. «Οἱ« γὰρ «ὀφθαλμοί μου« φησὶν «ἐπὶ πάσας τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτῶν. τῶν τοιούτων, τῶν ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη τὰς διατριβὰς ποιουμένων καὶ ἐν τοῖς βουνοῖς καὶ ἐν ταῖς τρυμαλιαῖς τῶν πετρῶν [καὶ] ἐπὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς πάσας ὁ θεὸς ἔχει τοὺς ὀφθαλμούς. «καὶ οὐκ ἐκρύβησαν ἀπὸ προσώπου μου« οἱ τοιοῦτοι· οἱ γὰρ φαῦλοι κρύπτονται ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ.
ἢκουσεν Ἀδὰμ μετὰ τὴν παράβασιν «τὴν φωνὴν κυρίου τοῦ θεοῦ περιπατοῦντος ἐν τῷ παραδείσῳ τὸ δειλινὸν« καὶ ἐκρύβη, ὁ δὲ ἅγιος οὐ κέκρυπται, ἀλλ᾿ ἔχει καρδίαν μετὰ παρρησίας τῆς κατὰ τὴν ἁγίαν πολιτείαν πρὸς τὸν θεόν. «ἐὰν« γὰρ «ἡ συνείδησις ἡμῶν μὴ καταγινώσκῃ, ἔχει παρρησίαν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ ὃ ἂν αἰτώμεθα λαμβάνομεν παρ᾿ αὐτοῦ. ὁ μὲν οὖν Ἀδὰμ εἰ καὶ ἥμαρτεν, οὐκ εἰς ὑπερβολὴν χαλεπὴν ἁμαρτίαν ἅμαρτεν· διὰ τοῦτο ἐκρύβη «ἀπὸ προσώπου τοὺ θεοῦ. ὁ δὲ ἁμαρτωλότερος αὐτοῦ Κάϊν καὶ ἀσεβέστατος ὁ ἀδελφοκτόνος τί πεποίηκεν; «ἐξῆλθεν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ.
ὥστε συγκρίσει κακῶν ἔλαττον εἶναι τὸ κρυβῆναι ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ· καὶ γὰρ οὗτος κρύπτεται οὐκ ἀπερυθριῶν, ἀλλ᾿ αἰδούμενος τὸν θεόν. «οὐκ ἐκρύβησαν« οὖν «ἀπὸ προσώπου μου. οὗτοι, οἱ ταῦτα ποιήσαντες, ἐν ἁμαρτίαις ποτὲ γεγόνασι καὶ ἀπὸ ἁμαρτιῶν τῶν ἐν τῇ θαλάσσῃ ἡλιεύθησαν.
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.