Spring and well; resurrection of the clay
'And a word of the Lord came to me, saying: If as the potter I will not be able to do to you, house of Israel? says the Lord.' Each according to power understands what is written—one more on the surface, as taking the sense from them as from a spring on a plain; another more deeply, as drawing up from a well. And both can be benefited, since the same thing is a spring to the one and a well to the other. The Gospel bears witness when it narrates the things about the Samaritan woman; for there the same is named 'spring' and 'well,' and by turns it is sometimes called spring and sometimes well. Let the one who can consider, that he may know that the same thing in substance is a spring to the surface-minded and a well to the deeper.
This is a preface for me of the narration about to come, because of the clay vessel that fell apart from the potter’s hand and was molded again. Some considered these things more simply and understood. I will set their account and narration before you; after these things, if we have something deeper, we will narrate that too. Here, they say, the things about the resurrection can be shown. For if the clay vessel fell apart from the potter’s hands and from the same matter of the same clay he makes 'it another vessel as it was pleasing before him,' the potter God of our bodies, the craftsman of our construction, when this falls apart and is crushed for whatever cause, can take it up again and renew it and make it a more beautiful and better 'other vessel as it was pleasing before him to make.' Let this narration also have its grace.
Greek
«Καὶ ἐγένετο λόγος κυρίου πρός με λέγων· εἰ καθὼς ὁ κεραμεὺς οὕτως οὐ δυνήσομαι τοῦ ποιῆσαι ὑμᾶς, οἶκος Ἰσραήλ; φησὶ κύριος.
ἕκαστος κατὰ δύναμιν νοεῖ τὰ γεγραμμένα, ὁ μὲν ἐπιπολαιότερον οἷον ὡς ἐξ ἐπιπέδου πηγῆς λαμβάνων τὸν νοῦν ἀπ᾿ αὐτῶν, ὁ δὲ βαθύτερον ὡς ἀπὸ ἀπὸ φρέατος ἀνιμῶν. καὶ δύνανται ἀμφότεροι ὠφελεῖσθαι, ἐπεὶ τὸ αὐτὸ τῷ μέν ἐστι πηγή, τῷ δὲ φρέαρ. μαρτυρεῖ τὸ εὐαγγέλιον, ἡνίκα διηγεῖται τὰ περὶ τὴς Σαμαρίτιδος· ἐκεῖ γὰρ ὀνομάζεται τὸ αὐτὸ «πηγὴ« καὶ «φρέαρ«, καὶ ἀνὰ μέρος ποτὲ λέγεται πηγὴ καὶ ποτὲ φρέαρ. κατανοείτω δὲ ὁ δυνάμενος, ἵνα εἰδῇ ὅτι τὸ αὐτὸ τῇ ὑποστάσει τῷ μὲν ἐπιπολαίῳ πηγή ἐστι, τῷ δὲ βαθυτέρῳ φρέαρ ἐστί. προοίμιόν μοι τοῦτό ἐστι τῆς μελλούσης διηγήσεως διὰ τὸ ἀγγεῖον τὸ πήλινον τὸ διαπεσὸν ἀπὸ τῆς χειρὸς τοῦ κεραμέως καὶ αὖθις πλασθέν. τινὲς ἐθεώρησαν ταῦτα ἁπλούστερον καὶ ἐνόησαν. παραθήσομαι ὑμῖν τὸν ἐκείνων λόγον καὶ τὴν διήγησιν· μετὰ ταῦτα ἐάν τι ἔχωμεν βαθύτερον καὶ τοῦτο διηγησόμεθα. δύναται, φασίν, ἐνταῦθα δηλοῦσθαι τὰ περὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως. εἰ γὰρ τὸ πήλινον ἀγγεῖον διέπεσεν ἀπὸ τῶν χειρῶν τοῦ κεραμέως καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς αὐτῆς ὕλης τοῦ πηλοῦ τοῦ αὐτοῦ ποιεῖ «αὐτὸ ἀγγεῖον ἕτερον καθὼς ἤρεσεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ«, δύναται ὁ κεραμεὺς θεὸς τῶν σωμάτων ἡμῶν, ὁ δημιουργὸς τῆς κατασκευῆς ἡμῶν, ἐπὰν διαπέσῃ τοῦτο καὶ συντριβῇ καθ᾿ οἵαν δήποτε αἰτίαν, ἀναλαβεῖν αὐτὸ καὶ ἀνακαινῶσαι καὶ ποιῆσαι αὐτὸ ὡραιότερον καὶ βέλτιον «ἀγγεῖον ἕτερον καθὼς ἤρεσεν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ ποιῆσαι.
Ἐχέτω καὶ αὕτη ἡ διήγησις χάριν.
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.