Fragments on the New Testament · §2 · Origen of Alexandria

John catena: witnesses and the Baptist’s voice

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And ‘he dwelt among us’ — and this very name it bore, ‘God with us’ — but when he created, since it was not as a man sent by the Father that he brought all things into being: ‘he was with God, and was God.’

The Son of God is also called ‘Wisdom,’ created as ‘beginning of God’s ways’ according to the writing of Proverbs — because God’s Wisdom, existing in relation to him whose Wisdom she is, had no relation to anything else, but by God’s good pleasure willed that the creatures should come into being.

This Wisdom, then, willed to take up a creative relation to the things that were to be; and this is what is signified by her being created ‘beginning of God’s ways’ — along which ways he traverses, ordering beings, exercising providence, doing good, bestowing grace, in this Wisdom who was created.

They say, then, that the Word is ‘beginning’ — not being other than her in substance, but in our conception and in relation — so that it is the same existence which the scriptures now name in respect of substance: Wisdom insofar as she has been made God’s own, and the creative Word insofar as he has inclined, so to speak, toward the things made.

But it is not only here that the Son of God is called ‘Word’; sayings can be set alongside not only from the New Testament but also from the Old: ‘By the word of the Lord the heavens were established’; and ‘He sent his word and healed them’; and Luke… the fragment breaks off

Greek

καὶ »Ἐσκήνωσεν ἐν ἡμῖν« καὶ ὄνομα ἔοχεν αὐτὸ δὴ τοῦτο »Μεθ᾿ »ἡμῶν ὁ θεός« ὅτε δὲ ἐδημιούργησεν, ἐπεὶ μὴ ὡς ἄνθρωπος ἀποσταλεὶς ὑπὸ τοῦ πατρὸς εἰς οὐσίαν ἔφερε τὰ πάντα, καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἦν καὶ θεὸς ἦν· λέγεται δὲ καὶ σοφία ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ υἱός, ἀρχὴ ὁδῶν τοῦ θεοῦ κτισθεῖσα κατὰ τὴν τῶν Παροιμιῶν γραφήν, ὅτι ἡ τοῦ θεοῦ σοφία, πρὸς τὸν οὗ ἐστι σοφία ὑπάρχουαα, οὐδεμίαν σχέοιν πρὸς ἕτερόν τινα εἶχεν, ἀλλ᾿ εὐδοκία θεοῦγενόμενος τὰ κτίοματα ὑπάρξαι ἠβονλήθη. ἠθέλησεν οὖν ἀναλαβεῖν αὕτη ἡ σοφία σχέσιν δημιουργικὴν πρὸς τὰ ἐσόμενα καὶ τοῦτό ἐστι τὸ δηλούμενον διὰ τοῦ ἐκτίσθαι αὐτὴν ἀρχὴν ὁδῶν τοῦ θεοῦ, καθ᾿ ἃς ὁδοὺς διαπορεύεται οὐσιῶν διακοσμῶν προνοούμενος, εὐεργετῶν, χαριζόμενος ἐν ταύτῃ τῇ σοφίᾳ κτισθείσῃ. ἀρχὴν οὖν εἶναι τὸν λόγον φασὶν οὐχ ἕτερον ὄντα αὐτῆς κατ᾿ οὐσίαν ἀλλ᾿ ἐπινοίᾳ καὶ σγέσει, ἵν᾿ ᾖ ἡ αὐτὴ ὕπαρξις ἣν νῦν καλοῦσιν κατ᾿ οὐσίαν αἱ γραφαί, ᾗ μὲν ᾠκείωται τῷ θεῷ σοφία, ᾗ δὲ νένευκεν, ἵν᾿ οὕτως εἴπω, πρὸς τὰ δημιουργήματα ὁ δημιονργικὸς λόγος, οὐκ ἐντανῦθα δὲ μόνον ὁ τοῦ θεοῦ υἱὸς λόγος εἴρηται· ἔστι δὲ παραθέσθαι ἡητὰ οὐκ ἐκ τῆς καινῆς μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐκ τῆς παλαιᾶς· »Τῷ λόγῳ γὰρ κυρίου οὐρανοὶ ἐστερεώθησαν«. καὶ τὸ »Ἀπέστειλεν τὸν λόγον αὐτοῦ καὶ ἰάσατο αὐτούς«. καὶ ὁ Λουκᾶς…

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About this text

Origen's notes on John, Luke and Matthew: the Word who was in the beginning, the Baptist, the Passion, and why the Church keeps only four Gospels.

Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) wrote these exegetical comments on the Gospels of John, Matthew, and Luke. They survive as excerpts preserved in later catena and scholia collections, not as complete commentaries. Origen was one of the most prolific and influential early Christian theologians, and his biblical interpretation shaped later Christian thought even after parts of his teaching were condemned.

The occasion for these fragments is the loss of most of Origen's original exegetical works. What remains comes through later compilers who gathered his comments into catena manuscripts and scholia.

Origen quotes and argues against opponents who say the Word began at the incarnation, and he defends the four Gospels as the Church's approved accounts against many attempted Gospels, including one by Basilides.

Datec. 230–250 AD (fragment tradition)

English follows First1KGreek digital text. Modern copyright reconstructions were not used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from First1KGreek digital text tlg2042.tlg006 — John catena (Greek)
Translated from First1KGreek digital text tlg2042.tlg017 — Luke catena (Greek)
Translated from First1KGreek digital text tlg2042.tlg077 — Matthew scholia (Greek)
Translated from First1KGreek digital text tlg2042.tlg078 — Luke scholia (Greek)

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