Fragments on Lamentations · §76 · Origen of Alexandria

Kind yoke; sit alone; mono-way dwellers

Because “his yoke is kind and the burden light.” (Matthew 11:30) Let no one assent with him about something; one must not be led away together, but even if he is isolated toward this, to endure in what has been decided and to be firmly settled. For “the Lord settles mono-way ones in a house,” (Psalm 68:6) says David, and “I am alone until I pass by” (Psalm 68:6)—clearly the trials, having obtained kindness (Psalm 141:10).

Greek

Klagel. Jerem. 3, 27. 28. Ὁτι >ὁ ζυγὸς αὐτοῦ χρηστὸς καὶ τὸ φορτίον ἐλαφρόν<. μηδεὶς αὐτῷ συναινῇ περί του, δεῖ μὴ συναπάγεσθαι, ἀλλὰ κἂν μονωθῇ πρὸς τοῦτο, τοῖς δεδογμένοις ἐγκαρτερεῖν καὶ ἐνιδρὺσθαι βεβαίως. «κύριος« γὰρ «κατοικίζει μονοτρόπους ἐν οἴκῳ« φησὶν ὁ Δαβίδ, καὶ «κατὰ μόνας εἰμὶ ἐγώ, ἕως οὑ παρέλθω«, δηλονότι τοὺς πειρασμοὺς φιλανθρωπίας τυχών.

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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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