Fragments on the New Testament · §3 · Origen of Alexandria

John catena: passion and beloved disciple

Click or tap any sentence to jump there. The side buttons skip a paragraph.

The word ‘one’ is used in many ways — both by likeness and in many other ways: by agreement, when it says, ‘The multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul’; by likeness, as when it says, ‘For we were all baptized in one Spirit into one body,’ by likeness of nature.

And as, having Adam as our beginning and head according to the nature of our birth, we are all said to have one body, so too we ascribe Christ to ourselves as head through the divine regeneration, which has become for us a type of his death and resurrection — he who rose as firstborn from the dead.

We ascribe him to ourselves as head in prefiguration of his resurrection — ‘whose members we are in part, and body, through the Spirit, being regenerated unto incorruption.’

Greek

Ὅτι] Τὸ »Ἓν« πολλαχῶς λέγεται καὶ καθ’ ὁμοιότητα καὶ καθ’ ἕτερα πολλά· καὶ κατὰ μὲν συμφωνίαν, ὅταν εἴπῃ ὅτι »Τὸ πλῆθος τῶν πιστευσάντων ἦν ἡ καρδία μία καὶ ἡ ψυχὴ μία«, καθ’ ὁμοιότητα δέ, ὡς ὅταν λέγῃ· »Καὶ γὰρ ἡμεῖς πάντες έν ἑνὶ πνεύματι εἰς ἓν σῶμα ἐβαπτίσθημεν‘ καθ᾿ ὁμοιότητα τῆς φύσεως· καὶ ὡς τὸν Ἀδὰμ ἀρχὴν καὶ κεφαλὴν ἔχοντες κατὰ φύσιν ἡμῶν γεννήσεως ἓν σῶμα λεγόμεθα οἱ πάντες ἔχειν, οὕτως καὶ τὸν χριστὸν κεφαλὴν ἐπιγραφόμεθα διὰ τῆς θείας ἀνγεννήσεως ἥτις γέγονε τύπος ἡμῖν τοῦ θανάτου καὶ τῆς ἀναστάσεως αὐτοῦ, ὃς πρωτότοκος ἐκ νεκρῶν ἀναστάς. ἐπιγραφόμεθα αὐτὸν κεφαλὴν κατὰ προτύπωσιν τῆς αὐτοῦ ἀναστάσεως »οὐτινος ἐσμὲν μέλη ἐκ μέρους καὶ σῶμα διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος »εἰς ἀφθαρσίαν ἀναγεννώμενοι«.

Report a mistake in this passage

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)

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.

Report a mistake