Fragments on Lamentations · §103 · Origen of Alexandria

Nazirites darkened; dry wood without water

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They fell out of the spiritual illumination and were melted by the intelligible famine, so as to resemble dry woods, those not planted beside the exits of the waters—such as now are the priests among them, not having spiritual good-nourishment. And according to the wording also, their faces were being blackened of extreme shame because sinning like the others they were being led away; since even now upon those being shamed custom has used the name (Lamentations 4:8) (Psalm 1:3).

Greek

Klagel. Jerem. 4, 8. Τῆς πνευματικῆς ἐξέπεσαν ἐλλάμψεως καὶ λιμῷ τῷ νοητῷ δι- ετάκησαν, ὡς ἐοικέναι ξύλοις ξηροῖς, τοῖς μὴ πεφυτευμένοις παρὰ ταῖς διεξόδοις τῶν ὑδάτων<· ὁποῖοι νῦν οἱ παρ’ αὐτοῖς ἱερεῖς ἒχοντες εὐτροφίαν εὐτροφίαν πνευματικήν. καὶ κατὰ τὸ ῥητὸν δέ, αἰσχύνης ἄκρας τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ἐμελαίνετο ὄτι τοῖς τοῖς ἄλλοις ὸμοίως ἁμαρτάνοντες ἀ.πήγοντο· ἐπεὶ καὶ νῦν ἐπὶ τῶν καταισχυνομένων ἡ συνήθεια τῷ ὀνόματι κέχρηται.

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About this text

Origen on Lamentations: Jeremiah's grief for captive Jerusalem, read also as the soul taken captive by sin and set free by Christ.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) was a Christian teacher in Alexandria and head of the catechetical school. This English is his fragments on Lamentations.

The full commentary is lost. What survives are short passages kept in later chains of quotations. He sets out the literal sense, the Hebrew form of the book, and its historical setting, and he compares the Greek translations.

A reader meets Jeremiah lamenting the fall of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem read both as the city and as the soul. Origen quotes Symmachus, Aquila, and Theodotion. He also cites Paul, David, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Habakkuk, Zechariah, and Daniel. He uses Septuagint book names and Psalm numbering.

EditionKlostermann, Origenes Werke III (GCS 6, 1901)

We have not yet re-checked this work against its source. We made this study translation with AI help. No scholar has yet certified it as faithful and complete. Open Greek on any section to see the source text. It is not a critical edition.

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