When a saving deception is better than a harmful truth
I want to take a risk and give an example of those benefited while deceived. There are some who practice chastity and purity for this reason, and others who practice single marriage for this reason, because they expected the one who has marital intercourse to perish, and the one who marries twice to perish. Let us compare among ourselves: what benefits the single-married—to be deceived and think the twice-married is punished and handed over to eternal punishment, that she may remain single-married and pure—or to know the truth and marry twice? I think anyone seeing what follows can say that it would have been more blessed to be pure and not marry twice without being deceived, and to see that the twice-married shares some salvation, yet not so great a blessedness as the one who, though able to marry twice, stayed pure. But if she cannot do this, it is better to be deceived as if the twice-married perish and through the deception stay pure, than to know the truth and come into the lesser rank of the twice-married. You will find something such also among those practicing chastity and complete purity.
And many other things would be found done by us according to a deception and benefiting us. But how many supposed wise, having found the truth about punishment and having passed through the things of the deception, have come into a worse life? It would have benefited them to think as they thought before about 'their worm will not die' and that 'their fire will not be quenched' and that 'they will be for a sight to all flesh' and that 'the chaff will be burned with unquenchable fire.' But if imagining something else beside their first notion they are about to despise 'the wealth of the kindness of God and the forbearance and the long-suffering,' see whether truly for this reason, because they did not seem to have been deceived, they stored up for themselves 'wrath in a day of wrath and revelation and just judgment of God'—which they would not have stored if they had been deceived. These things because of the deception from God, since the prophet said: 'You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.'
And let us also pass privately into 'I was deceived.' Why did he not say only 'You deceived me, Lord,' but also added 'and I was deceived'? Sometimes one can conceive someone working the deception, but another being on guard against being deceived and not being deceived. But when the one works the deceiving and the other does not guard against being deceived but falls into the deception, he would say: 'You deceived me, Lord, and I was deceived.' And I, coming to be at the place, would also say something such: if the serpent says something to me, whether he says true things or wants to deceive me, I am suspicious of his words, persuaded that whether he deceives me or speaks truly he harms me. For even his truth harms; nothing beneficial comes from the serpent, since 'a bad tree cannot bear good fruits.'
Greek
(19,) Παρακινδυνεῦσαι θέλω καὶ παράδειγμα δοῦναι ὠφελημένων ἠπατημένων. εἰσὶ τινες οἵ διὰ τοῦτο ἀσκοῦσι τὴν ἁγνείαν καὶ τὴν καθαρότητα, καὶ ἄλλοι οἵ διὰ τοῦτο ἀσκοῦσι τὴν μονογαμίαν, ἐπεὶ προσεδόκησαν ἀπόλλυσθαι τὸν συνουσιάσαντα γαμικῶς, ἀπόλλυσθαι τὸν διγαμήσαντα. συγκρίνωμεν καθ᾿ ἑαυτούς, τί λυσιτελεῖ τῇ μονογάμῳ, ἠπατῆσθαι καὶ οἴεσθαι κολάζεσθαι καὶ αἰωνίῳ κολάσει παραδίδοσθαι τὴν δίγαμον, ἵνα μείνῃ μονόγαμος καὶ καθαρά, ἢ γνῶναι τὸ ἀληθὲς καὶ διγαμῆσαι; νομίζω, παντὸς οὑτινοσοῦν βλέποντος τὸ ἀκόλουθον ἔστιν εἰπεῖν, ὅτι μακαριώτερον μὲν ἦν τὸ καθαρεύειν καὶ μὴ διγαμεῖν μὴ ἠπατημένην καὶ ὁρᾶν ὅτι μετέχει μὲν σωτηρίας τινὸς καὶ ἡ δίγαμος, οὐ μὴν τοσαύτης μακαριότητος, ὅσης παρὸν διγαμεῖν καθαρεύσασα· εἰ δὲ μὴ δύναται τοῦτο, βέλτιον τὸ ἠπατῆσθαι ὡς ἀπολλυμένων διγάμων καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀπάτην καθαρεύειν, ἢ τὸ ἀληθὲς ἐγνωκέναι καὶ ἐν ἐλάττονι γεγονέναι τῷ τῶν διγάμων τάγματι. τοιοῦτόν τι εὑρήσεις καὶ ἐπὶ τινων ἀσκούντων τὴν ἁγνείαν καὶ τὴν καθαρότητα τὴν παντελῆ. πολλὰ δ᾿ ἂν καὶ ἄλλα εὑρεθείη κατὰ ἀπάτην ὑφ᾿ ἡμῶν γινόμενα καὶ ὠφελοῦντα ἠμᾶς. πόσοι δὲ νομιζόμενοι σοφοί, εὑρόντες τὸ περὶ κολάσεως ἀληθὲς καὶ διελθόντες δῆθεν τὰ τῆς ἀπάτης, ἐν χείρονι γεγόνασι βίῳ; ἐλυσιτέλει αὐτοὺς φρονεῖν, ὡς ἐφρόνουν πρότρον περὶ τοῦ «ὁ σκώληξ αὐτῶν οὐ τελευτήσει« καὶ ὅτι «τὸ πῦρ αὐτῶν οὐ σβεσθήσεται« καὶ ὅτι «ἔσονται εἰς ὅρασιν πάσῃ σαρκί« καὶ ὅτι >τὸ ἄχυρον κατακαυθήσεται πυρὶ ἀσβέστῳ< ἐὰν δὲ ἄλλο τι φαντασθέντες παρὰ τὴν πρώτην αὐτῶν ἔννοιαν >μέλλωσι τοῦ πλούτου τῆς χρηστότητος τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῆς ἀνοχῆς καὶ τῆς μακροῦμίας καταφρονεῖν<, ὅρα εἰ μὴ αληθῶς διὰ τοῦτο, ἐπεὶ μὴ ἔδοξαν ἠπατῆσθαι, ἐθησαύρισαν αὑτοῖς «ὀργὴν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ ὀργῆς καὶ ἀποκαλυψεως καὶ δικαιοκρισίας τοῦ θεοῦ«, οὐκ ἂν θησαυρίσαντες εἰ ἠπατήθησαν. ταῦτα διὰ τὴν ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἀπάτην, ἐπεὶ εἶπεν ὁ προφήτης· «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην.
Παρέλθωμεν δὲ ἰδίᾳ καὶ εἰς τὸ «ἠπατήθην. διὰ τί οὐκ εἶπε μόνον τὸ «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε«, ἀλλὰ προσέθηκε καὶ τὸ «ἠπατήθην«; ἔστιν ἐνίοτε ἐπινοῆσαι [τι] ἐνεργοῦντά τινα τὴν ἀπάτην, ἄλλον δὲ φυλασσόμενον ἀπατηθῆναι καὶ οὐκ ἀπατώμενον. ὅταν δὲ ὁ μὲν ἐνεργήσῃ τὸ ἀπατᾶν, ὁ δὲ μὴ φυλάξηται τὸ ἀπατηθῆναι ἀλλ᾿ ἐμπέσῃ εἰς τὴν ἀπάτην, εἴποι ἄν· «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην.
ἐγὼ δὲ γενόμενος κατὰ τὸν τόπον καὶ τοιαῦτά τινα εἴποιμι ἂν ὅ ἐὰν λέγῃ μοι ὁ ὄφις, κἂν ἀληθῆ μοι λέγῃ κἂν ἀπατᾶν με θέλῃ, ὑφορῶμαι αὐτοῦ τοὺς λόγους πειθόμενος ὅτι, εἴτε ἀπατᾷ με εἴτε ἀληθεύει, βλάπτει με. καὶ ἡ ἀλήθεια γὰρ αὐτοῦ βλάπτει· οὐδὲν ὠφέλιμον ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄφεως γίνεται, ἐπεὶ >μὴ δύναται δένδρον πονηρὸν καρποὺς, ἀγαθοὺς ἐνεγκεῖν<.
ὅ ἐὰν δὲ λέγῃ μοι ὁ θεὸς καὶ πείθωμαι ὅτι θεός ἐστιν ὁ λέγων, ἕτοιμός εἰμι παρέχειν ἐμαυτον. ἀληθεύει, δέχομαι· ἀπατᾶν με βού- λεται, ἑκὼν ἀπατῶμαι, θεός, με μόνος ἀπατάτω. καὶ ἐπεὶ παρέχω ἐμαυτόν, πειθόμενος θεὸς εἶναι τὸν λέγοντα, καὶ ἀπατᾶσθαι, καὶ οὐ περιεργάζομαι, θέλων ἀπατώμενος μὴ ὑπ᾿ ἄλλου, ἀλλ᾿ ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ ἀπατηθῆναι, διὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὅτι οὐ μόνον σὺ ἐνήργησας τὸ ἀπατᾶν, ἀλλ᾿ ὅτι κἀγὼ πέπονθα τὸ ὑπὸ σοῦ ἀπατᾶσθαι, καὶ κατὰ τοῦτο λέγω ὅτι «ἠπάτησάς με, κύριε, καὶ ἠπατήθην. τί δὲ ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ τὸν θεὸν εἶναι ἀπατῶντα καὶ ἄνθρωπον εἶναι τὸν ἀπατώμενον; «ἐκράτησας καὶ ἠδυνάσθης. καὶ κρατήσας δύναται. ἐὰν δὲ μὴ κρατήσῃ, τότε μοι χρεία πόνων. «ἐκράησας καὶ ἠδυνάσθης.
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.