Selecta in Job

ORIGEN'S SELECTIONS ON JOB. 12.1032 CHAPTER 1. The horsemen formed three companies against us and surrounded the camels. So then, he caused the camels to fall under the horsemen; and the donkeys and the yokes of oxen under the plunderers; but he hated the sheep; for this reason he brought down fire upon them; but he also plotted against the sons, and sought an opportunity to destroy them. If he had found them reading, he would not have touched the house, nor had a place to kill them; if he had found them praying, he could have done nothing against them; but when he found an opportunity, he prevailed. What was the opportunity? It was drunkenness, it was a banquet. And as for the spirit touching the corners, take note, that in the broad places of the corners the hypocrites stand and pray; and everyone who has not set foot on the straight way makes use of corners; and a wide corner is great and unrestrained evil. CHAPTER 19. How long will you vex my soul? Just as heavy bodies placed on the bodies of animals cause the bearers to grow weary; so there are certain heavy words, which when one hears, he grows weary as if pressed by the weight of the power of the words, which are spoken reproachfully and harshly, or with reviling; as also now with the things spoken by Bildad, Job, feeling as it were a heavy burden, weary in soul, says: "How long will you vex my soul," and, as a heavy burden, will you weigh down words against me? You see that the words of the ruler of the Shuhites are tyrannical, which Job, having heard, says the foregoing. For nothing else touches a person's soul so much as a harsh word; for often someone who has endured torments inflicted on the body, has not endured words. The perfect athlete, however, even if weary, still endures harsh words; for to endure insult is the mark of a great man; wherefore in his own noble deeds the Apostle says: "When reviled, we bless; when slandered, we entreat." And now it is Job, the most noble of athletes, who says these things; whose book also contains nothing else exclusively 12.1033 but his courage and his endurance; but nevertheless he feels the weariness with which he was wearied by the harsh word of those who had come to visit him. And since the heaviness of the word, like some burden placed on the soul, prepares it to grow weary, for this reason he says: Why, O friends, do you add pain of the soul to the pains of the body, pricking more with your words than the sufferings do the body? You speak against me. Often someone speaks against another while doing evil; but when he loses all shame, he says it to his face, not refuting, nor speaking the truth, but reproaching and insulting. I will cry out, and there is nowhere judgment. Now if I cry out, my judgment comes from nowhere; I am still contending. As if he said: Like an athlete in a stadium I have cried out, and nowhere does my judgment arise; for I am still wrestling. If I do not finish the wrestling match, the judgment of the crown does not come. And we say these things, so that we may not accuse God, that Job suffers so many things, and nowhere is the judgment, that is, the decree of freedom, and of release from terrible things. CHAPTER 20. If his gifts should ascend to heaven. And the heretic, when he prays, when his sacrifice ascends with lofty speech, when he seems to be established, then he will be utterly destroyed; for his prayer is counted to him as sin. But we of the church who know his errors will say: Where are such men, dreaming and fashioning errors for themselves? Being mistaken, they do not ground their thought on the truth; and they become like a dream that has flown away, which will not be found. And David sings something like this: "But they who

Selecta in Job

ΩΡΙΓΕΝΟΥΣ ΕΚΛΟΓΑΙ ΕΙΣ ΙΩΒ. 12.1032 ΚΕΦ. Αʹ. Οἱ ἱππεῖς ἐποίησαν ἡμῖν κεφαλὰς τρεῖς καὶ ἐκύκλωσαν τὰς καμήλους. Τὰς μὲν οὖν καμήλους πεποίηκε γενέσθαι ὑπὸ τοὺς ἱππεῖς· τὰς ὄνους δὲ καὶ τὰ ζεύγη τῶν βοῶν ὑπὸ τοὺς αἰχμαλωτίζοντας· τὰ πρόβατα δὲ ἐμίσει· διὰ τοῦτο πῦρ ἐπ' αὐτὰ κατήγα γεν· ἀλλὰ καὶ τοῖς υἱοῖς ἐπεβούλευε, καὶ καιρὸν ἐζήτει τοῦ αὐτοὺς ἀπολέσαι. Εἰ εὑρήκει ἀναγινώ σκοντας, οὐκ ἂν ἥψατο τῆς οἰκίας, οὐδὲ τόπον εἶχε τοῦ αὐτοὺς ἀποκτεῖναι· εἰ εὑρήκει προσευχομένους, οὐδὲν ἐδύνατο ποιῆσαι κατ' αὐτῶν· ἀλλ' ὅτε εὗρεν εὐκαιρίαν, ἴσχυσε. Ποῖος ἦν ὁ καιρός; μέθη ἦν, συμ πόσιον ἦν. Τῷ δὲ τῶν γωνιῶν ἅψασθαι τὸ πνεῦμα, ἐπίστησον, ὅτι ἐν ταῖς τῶν γωνιῶν πλατείαις οἱ ὑποκριταὶ ἑστῶτες προσεύχονται· πᾶς δὲ ὁ μὴ ἐπιβεβη κὼς εὐθείας ὁδοῦ ταῖς γωνίαις κέχρηται· πλατεῖα δὲ γωνία ἐστὶν ἡ πολλὴ καὶ ἀνειμένη κακία. ΚΕΦ. ΙΘʹ. Ἕως τίνος ἔγκοπον ποιήσετε ψυχήν μου; Ὥσπερ σώματα βαρέα ἐπιτιθέμενα ζώων σώμασι κά μνειν ποιεῖ τὰ βαστάζοντα· οὕτως εἰσί τινες λόγοι βαρεῖς, οὓς ἀκούσας τις, κάμνει ὡς ὑπὸ βάρους πιε ζόμενος τῆς δυνάμεως τῶν λόγων, τῶν ὀνειδιστικῶς καὶ χαλεπῶς, ἢ ἐπὶ λοιδορίαις εἰρημένων· ὡς καὶ νῦν τῶν ὑπὸ Βαλδὰδ εἰρημένων, οἱονεὶ φορτίου αἰ σθανθεὶς βαρέος ὁ Ἰὼβ, καμὼν τῇ ψυχῇ φησιν· «Ἕως τίνος ἔγκοπον ποιήσετε τὴν ψυχήν μου,» καὶ ὡσεὶ φορτίον βαρὺ βαρυνεῖτε κατ' ἐμοῦ τοὺς λόγους; Ὁρᾷς, ὅτι τυραννικοί εἰσιν οἱ τοῦ Σαυχαίων τυράν νου λόγοι, οὓς ἀκούσας ὁ Ἰὼβ, λέγει τὰ προκείμενα. Οὐχ οὕτως γὰρ καθικνεῖται ψυχῆς ἀνθρώπου ἄλλο τι, ὡς λόγος σκληρός· πολλάκις γάρ τις ὑπομείνας βασά νους σώματι προσφερομένας, λόγους οὐχ ὑπέμεινεν. Ὁ μέντοιγε τέλειος ἀθλητὴς, εἰ καὶ κάμνων, ἀλλ' ὑπομένει τοὺς χαλεποὺς λόγους· ὕβριν γὰρ ὑπομέ νειν, μεγάλου ἀνδρός ἐστι· διόπερ ἐν τοῖς ἀνδραγα θήμασιν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ Ἀπόστολος λέγει· «Λοιδορούμενοι εὐλογοῦμεν· βλασφημούμενοι παρακαλοῦμεν.» Καὶ νῦν δὲ ὁ Ἰώβ ἐστιν, ὁ τῶν ἀθλητῶν γενναιότατος, ὁ ταῦτα λέγων· οὗ καὶ τὸ βιβλίον οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἐξαιρέτως 12.1033 περιέχει ἢ τὴν ἀνδρείαν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὴν ὑπομονήν· ἀλλ' ὅμως αἰσθάνεται τῶν καμάτων ὧν κεκμήκει ἀπὸ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ σκληροῦ τῶν ἐληλυθότων αὐτὸν ἐπισκοπῆ σαι. Καὶ ἐπειδὴ ἡ τοῦ λόγου βαρύτης, ὥσπερ τι φορτίον ἐπιτιθέμενον τῇ ψυχῇ, κάμνειν αὐτὴν παρα σκευάζει, διὰ τοῦτό φησιν· Ἀνθ' ὅτου, ὦ φίλοι, ταῖς τοῦ σώματος ἀλγηδόσι προστίθετε τὸν τῆς ψυχῆς πό νον, μᾶλλον κεντοῦντες τοῖς ῥήμασιν ἢ τὰ πάθη τὸ σῶμα; Καταλαλεῖτέ μου. Πολλάκις καταλαλεῖ τις κα κῶς ποιῶν· ὅταν δὲ ἀπερυθριάσῃ, εἰς πρόσωπον λέγει ἐκείνου, οὐκ ἐλέγχων, οὐδὲ τἀληθῆ λέγων, ἀλλ' ὀνειδίζων καὶ ὑβρίζων. Κεκράξομαι, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ κρῖμα. Νῦν ἐὰν κράξω, οὐδαμοῦ τὸ κρῖμά μου ἔρχεται· ἔτι ἀθλῶ. Ὡσεὶ ἔλεγεν· Ὥς τις ἀθλητὴς ἐν σταδίῳ κέκραγα, καὶ οὐδαμοῦ τὸ κρῖμά μου ἐπανίσταται· ἔτι γὰρ παλαίω. Ἐὰν μὴ τελέσω τὸ πάλαισμα, οὐκ ἔρχεται τὸ κρῖμα τοῦ στεφάνου. Καὶ ταῦτά φαμεν, ἵνα μὴ κατηγορῶ μεν τοῦ Θεοῦ, ὅτι τοσαῦτα πάσχει ὁ Ἰὼβ, καὶ οὐ δαμοῦ τὸ κρῖμα, τουτέστιν ἡ ἀπόφασις τῆς ἐλευθε ρίας, καὶ τῆς τῶν δεινῶν ἀπαλλαγῆς. ΚΕΦ. Κʹ. Ἐὰν ἀναβῇ εἰς οὐρανὸν αὐτοῦ τὰ δῶρα. Καὶ ὁ αἱρετικὸς ὅταν εὔξηται, ὅταν ἡ θυσία αὐτοῦ ἀναβῇ τῇ ὑψηγορίᾳ, ὅταν δοκῇ κατεστηρίχθαι, τότε εἰς τέλος ἀπολεῖται· ἡ γὰρ εὐχὴ αὐτοῦ λογίζεται αὐτῷ εἰς ἁμαρτίαν. Οἱ δὲ εἰδότες αὐτοῦ τὰ σφάλματα ἐκκλησιαστικοὶ ἐροῦμεν· Ποῦ εἰσιν οἱ τοιοῦτοι ἐν υπνιαζόμενοι καὶ ἀναπλάττοντες ἑαυτοῖς σφάλματα; Οὐ τῇ ἀληθείᾳ τὴν διάνοιαν ἐπερείδουσι σφαλλό μενοι· καὶ γίνονται ὥσπερ ἐνύπνιον ἐκπετασθὲν, ὃ οὐ μὴ εὑρεθῇ. Τοιοῦτόν τι καὶ ∆αυῒδ ψάλλει· «Οἱ δὲ