God did not make death; how did the true vine turn bitter
'God did not make death, nor does he delight in the destruction of the living. For he created all things that they might be, and the generations of the world are saving, and there is no poison of ruin in them, nor a kingdom of Hades upon the earth.' Then, going a little past the wording, I will say from where death entered: 'By the envy of the devil death entered into the world.' So whatever is best about us, God has made; but we have created evil and sins for ourselves.
That is why here too the beginning of the reading in the prophet was speaking, as it were questioningly, to those who have had bitterness in the soul, opposite to the sweetness which God prepared for it: 'How have you turned into bitterness, the alien vine?' As if he were saying: God did not make lameness, but he made all sound of foot — what then has become the cause of those who have been lamed? And God made all the members healthy in the first place — what has become a cause of someone suffering something?
In the same way the soul has come to be 'according to the image' not of the first man only, but of every man. For 'let us make man according to our image and according to our likeness' reaches to all men. And as in Adam that which most people understand as 'according to the image' is older than what was added to him when, because of sin, he wore 'the image of the dusty one,' so in all the 'according to the image of God' is older than the worse image. 'We have worn,' being sinners, 'the image of the dusty one; let us wear,' repenting, 'the image of the heavenly one.' Yet the creation came to be in the image of the heavenly one.
So here the Word is at a loss toward those who sin, speaking as a reproof: 'How have you turned into bitterness, the alien vine? For I planted you a fruit-bearing vine, all true.' In what was said before this it has been spoken, and taking up a little I will persuade you that God planted a good vine, the soul of man, and each, having turned, has become opposite to the will of the one who created him. 'And I planted you a fruit-bearing vine, all' — not in part — 'true,' not one true and one false, but 'I planted you a fruit-bearing vine, all true. How have you turned' — I planted you an all-true vine; you, how have you turned into bitterness and become an alien vine?
Greek
«Ὁ θεὸς θάνατον οὐκ ἐποίησεν, οὐδὲ τέρπεται ἐπ' ἀπωλείᾳ ζώντων· ἔκτισε γὰρ εἰς τὸ εἶναι τὰ πάντα, καὶ σωτήριοι αἱ γενέσεις τοῦ κόσμου, καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἐν αὐταῖς φάρμακον ὀλέθρου, οὐδὲ ᾄδου βασίλειον ἐπὶ γῆς. εἶτα ὀλίγον ὑπερβὰς τὸ ῥητὸν ἐρῶ, πόθεν θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν· «φθόνῳ δὲ διαβόλου θάνατος εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον. εἴ τι οὖν ἄριστον περὶ ἡμᾶς, ὁ θεὸς πεποίηκεν, ἡμεῖς δὲ ἑαυτοῖς ἐκτίσαμεν τὴν κακίαν καὶ τὰς ἁμαρτίας. διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἐν- θάδε ἡ ἀρχὴ τοῦ ἀναγνώσματος ἡ ἐν τῷ προφήτῃ οἶον ἐπαπορητικῶς ἔλεγεν πρὸς τοὺς πικρότητα ἐσχηκότας ἐν τῇ ψυχῇ ἐναντίαν τῇ γλυκύτητι, ἣν ὁ θεὸς κατεσκεύασεν αὐτῇ· «πῶς ἐστράφης εἰς πικρίαν, ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀλλοτρία;« ὡσεὶ ἔλεγε· χωλότητα οὐκ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός, ἀλλ' ἀρτίποδας πεποίηκε πάντας, τίς αἰτία δὲ γεγένηται τοῦ τοὺς κεχωλωμένους; καὶ πεποίηκεν ὁ θεὸς τὰ μέλη πάντα προηγουμένως ὑγιαίνοντα, γέγονε δὲ τίς αἰτία τοῦ παθεῖν τινα; τὸν αὐτὸν τρόπον ἡ ψυχὴ οὐ τοῦ πρώτου μόνου γέγονε «κατ' εἰκόνα«, ἀλλὰ παντὸς ἀνθρώπου. τὸ γὰρ ποιήσωμεν ἄνθρωπον κατ’ εἰκόνα καὶ καθ’ ὁμοίωσιν ἡμετίραν« φθάνει ἐπὶ πάντας ἀνθρώπους. καὶ ἔστι πρεσβύτερον ὥσπερ ἐν τῷ Ἀδὰμ ἐκεῖνο ὃ οἱ πολλοὶ νοοῦαι τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα τοῦ προσειλημμένου αὐτῷ, ὅτε ἐφόρεσε διὰ τὴν ἁμαρτίαν «τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ«, οὕτως ἐν πᾶσι πρεσβύτερον τὸ κατ' εἰκόνα θεοῦ τῆς εἰκόνος τῆς χείρονος. «ἐφορέσαμεν« ἁμαρτωλοὶ ὄντες «τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ χοϊκοῦ, φορέσωμεν« μετανοοῦντες τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου. πλὴν ἡ κτίσις γέγονεν ἐν εἰκόνι τοῦ ἐπουρανίου.
Ἀπορεῖ οὖν ἐνθάδε πρὸς τοὺς ἁμαρτάνοντας ἐλεγκτικῶς λέγων ὁ λόγος· «πῶς ἐστράφης εἰς πικρίαν, ἡ ἄμπελος ἡ ἀλλοτρία; ἐγὼ« γὰρ «ἐφύτευσά σε ἄμπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν. ἐν τοῖς πρὸ τούτων λέλεκται, καὶ ἐπαναλαβὼν ὀλίγα πείσω ὑμᾶς, ὅτι θεὸς μὲν καλὴν ἄμπελον ἐφύτευσε τὴν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ψυχήν, ἕκαστος δὲ στραφεὶς γέγονεν ἐναντίος τῷ βουλήματι τοῦ κτίσαντος. «ἐγὼ δὲ ἐφύτευσά σε ἄμπελον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν«, οὐκ ἐκ μέρους «ἀληθινήν« οὐδὲ τὴν μὲν ἀληθινὴν τὴν δὲ ψευδῆ, ἀλλ' «ἐγὼ ἐφύτευσά σε ἄμπε- λον καρποφόρον πᾶσαν ἀληθινήν· πῶς ἐστράφης«, >ἐμοῦ σε πᾶσαν ἀληθινὴν ἄμπελον, σὺ πῶς ἐστράφης εἰς πικρίαν καὶ γέγονας ἀλλοτρία ἄμπελος;
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.