1

epistula ad Gregorium

2.1 1 Greetings in God, my most earnest and most reverend son Gregory, from Origen. Natural talent for understanding, as you know, can bear fruit when it has received training, leading to the goal, as far as possible, so to speak, of that which one wishes to practice. Your natural talent, therefore, is able to make you a perfect Roman lawyer and a Greek philosopher of one of the reputable schools. But I would wish that you devote the whole power of your natural talent ultimately to Christianity; and as a means to this end I would pray that you take up also from Greek philosophy the things which can be, as it were, preparatory or foundational studies for Christianity, and the things from geometry and astronomy which will be useful for the interpretation of the sacred scriptures; so that, what the children of the philosophers say about geometry and music, grammar, rhetoric, and astronomy, that they are handmaidens to philosophy, we may say this also about philosophy itself in relation to Christianity. 2 And perhaps something of this sort is hinted at by what is written in Exodus from the mouth of God, that it was said to the sons of Israel to ask from their neighbors and those who sojourn with them for articles of silver and gold, and clothing; so that, having despoiled the Egyptians, they might find material for the construction of the things received for the worship of God. For from the things which the sons of Israel took as spoil from the Egyptians the things in the holy of holies were constructed, the ark with its cover and the cherubim and the mercy seat and the golden pot in which was laid up the manna, the bread of angels. These things, then, were likely made from the finest of the Egyptians' gold; and from a second sort beside that, the solid gold lampstand throughout, near the inner veil, and the lamps upon it, and the golden table on which were the loaves of the presence, and between the two the golden censer. And if there was a third and fourth kind of gold, from that the holy vessels were made. and from Egyptian silver other things were made; for sojourning in Egypt the sons of Israel gained this from their sojourn there, to have an abundance of so much precious material for the things useful in the worship of God. And from the Egyptian clothing it is likely that all things were made that required the works, as scripture named it, of embroiderers, the embroiderers sewing with the wisdom of God such garments for such persons, so that the veils and the outer and inner curtains might be made. 3 And why must I, digressing at length, set out in how many ways the things taken from Egypt were useful to the sons of Israel, which the Egyptians did not use for a proper purpose, but the Hebrews, through the wisdom of God, used for the worship of God? However, the divine scripture knows that for some it has turned out for evil to have gone down from the land of the sons of Israel into Egypt; hinting that for some it turns out for evil to sojourn with the Egyptians, that is, with the learning of the world, after having been nurtured in the law of God and in the Israelite worship of him. Hadad the Edomite, at least, as long as he was in the land of Israel, not tasting the bread of the Egyptians, did not make idols; but when, having fled from the wise Solomon, he went down into Egypt, as one fleeing from the wisdom of God, he became a kinsman to Pharaoh, marrying the sister of his wife and begetting a child who was raised among the children of Pharaoh. Therefore, even if he returned to the land of Israel, he returned in order to divide the people of God, and to make them say concerning the golden calf: These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And I, having learned by experience, would say to you, that rare is the one who takes the useful things of Egypt and departs from it and makes the things for the worship of God; but many is the Hadad the Edomite

1

epistula ad Gregorium

2.1 1 Χαῖρε ἐν θεῷ, κύριέ μου σπουδαιότατε καὶ αἰδεσιμώτατε υἱὲ Γρηγόριε, παρὰ Ὠριγένους. Ἡ εἰς σύνεσιν, ὡς οἶσθα, εὐφυΐα ἔργον φέρειν δύναται ἄσκησιν προσλαβοῦσα, ἄγον ἐπὶ τὸ κατὰ τὸ ἐνδεχόμενον, ἵν' οὕτως ὀνομάσω, τέλος ἐκείνου, ὅπερ ἀσκεῖν τις βούλεται. δύναται οὖν ἡ εὐφυΐα σου Ῥωμαῖόν σε νομικὸν ποιῆσαι τέλειον καὶ Ἑλληνικόν τινα φιλόσοφον τῶν νομιζομένων ἐλλογίμων αἱρέσεων. ἀλλ' ἐγὼ τῇ πάσῃ τῆς εὐφυΐας δυνάμει σου ἐβουλόμην καταχρήσασθαί σε τελικῶς μὲν εἰς χριστιανισμόν· ποιητικῶς δὲ διὰ τοῦτ' ἂν ηὐξάμην παραλαβεῖν σε καὶ φιλοσοφίας Ἑλλήνων τὰ οἱονεὶ εἰς χριστιανισμὸν δυνάμενα γενέσθαι ἐγκύκλια μαθήματα ἢ προπαιδεύματα, καὶ τὰ ἀπὸ γεωμετρίας καὶ ἀστρονομίας χρήσιμα ἐσόμενα εἰς τὴν τῶν ἱερῶν γραφῶν διήγησιν· ἵν', ὅπερ φασὶ φιλοσόφων παῖδες περὶ γεωμετρίας καὶ μουσικῆς γραμματικῆς τε καὶ ῥητορικῆς καὶ ἀστρονομίας, ὡς συνερίθων φιλοσοφίᾳ, τοῦθ' ἡμεῖς εἴπωμεν καὶ περὶ αὐτῆς φιλοσοφίας πρὸς χριστια- νισμόν. 2 Καὶ τάχα τοιοῦτό τι αἰνίσσεται τὸ ἐν Ἐξόδῳ γεγραμμένον ἐκ προσώπου τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα λεχθῇ τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ αἰτεῖν παρὰ γειτόνων καὶ συσκήνων σκεύη ἀργυρᾶ καὶ χρυσᾶ καὶ ἱματισμόν· ἵνα σκυλεύσαντες τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους εὕρωσιν ὕλην πρὸς τὴν κατασκευὴν τῶν παραλαμβανομένων εἰς τὴν πρὸς θεὸν λατρείαν. ἐκ γὰρ ὧν ἐσκύλευσαν τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ τὰ ἐν τοῖς ἁγίοις τῶν ἁγίων κατεσκεύασται, ἡ κιβωτὸς μετὰ τοῦ ἐπιθέματος καὶ τὰ χερουβὶμ καὶ τὸ ἱλαστήριον καὶ ἡ χρυσῆ στάμνος, ἐν ᾗ ἀπέκειτο τὸ μάννα τῶν ἀγγέλων ὁ ἄρτος. ταῦτα μὲν οὖν ἀπὸ τοῦ καλλίστου τῶν Αἰγυπτίων εἰκὸς γεγονέναι χρυσοῦ· ἀπὸ δὲ δευτέρου τινὸς παρ' ἐκεῖνον ἡ στερεὰ δι' ὅλου χρυσῆ λυχνία, πλησίον τοῦ ἐσωτέρου καταπετάσματος, καὶ οἱ ἐπ' αὐτῆς λύχνοι, καὶ ἡ χρυσῆ τράπεζα, ἐφ' ἧς ἦσαν οἱ ἄρτοι τῆς προθέσεως, καὶ μεταξὺ ἀμφοτέρων τὸ χρυσοῦν θυμιατήριον. εἰ δέ τις ἦν τρίτος καὶ τέταρτος χρυσὸς, ἐξ ἐκείνου κατεσκευάζετο τὰ σκεύη τὰ ἅγια. καὶ ἀπὸ ἀργύρου δὲ Αἰγυπτίου ἄλλα ἐγίνετο· ἐν Αἰγύπτῳ γὰρ παροικοῦντες οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραὴλ τοῦτο ἀπὸ τῆς ἐκεῖ παροικίας κεκερδήκασι, τὸ εὐπορῆσαι τοσαύτης ὕλης τιμίας εἰς τὰ χρήσιμα τῇ λατρείᾳ τοῦ θεοῦ. ἀπὸ δὲ Αἰγυπτίων ἱματισμοῦ εἰκὸς γεγονέναι ὅσα ἐδεήθη ἔργων, ὡς ὠνόμασεν ἡ γραφὴ, ῥαφιδευτῶν, συῤῥα πτόντων τῶν ῥαφιδευτῶν μετὰ σοφίας θεοῦ τὰ τοιάδε ἱμάτια τοῖς τοιοισδὶ, ἵνα γένηται τὰ καταπετάσματα καὶ αἱ αὐλαῖαι ἐξωτέρω καὶ ἐσωτέρω. 3 Καὶ τί με δεῖ ἀκαίρως παρεκβαίνοντα κατασκευάζειν, εἰς ὅσα χρήσιμά ἐστι τοῖς υἱοῖς Ἰσραὴλ τὰ ἀπ' Αἰγύπτου παραλαμβανόμενα, οἷς Αἰγύπτιοι μὲν οὐκ εἰς δέον ἐχρῶντο, Ἑβραῖοι δὲ διὰ τὴν τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίαν εἰς θεοσέβειαν ἐχρήσαντο; οἶδεν μέντοι ἡ θεία γραφή τισι πρὸς κακοῦ γεγονέναι τὸ ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς τῶν υἱῶν Ἰσραὴλ εἰς Αἴγυπτον καταβεβηκέναι· αἰνισσομένη, ὅτι τισὶ πρὸς κακοῦ γίνεται τὸ παροικῆσαι τοῖς Αἰγυπτίοις, τουτέστι τοῖς τοῦ κόσμου μαθήμασι, μετὰ τὸ ἐντραφῆναι τῷ νόμῳ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῇ Ἰσραηλιτικῇ εἰς αὐτὸν θεραπείᾳ. Ἄδερ γοῦν ὁ Ἰδουμαῖος, ὅσον μὲν ἐν τῇ γῇ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἦν, μὴ γευόμενος τῶν Αἰγυπτίων ἄρτων, εἴδωλα οὐ κατεσκεύαζεν· ὅτε δὲ ἀποδρὰς τὸν σοφὸν Σολομῶντα κατέβη εἰς Αἴγυπτον, ὡς ἀποδρὰς ἀπὸ τῆς τοῦ θεοῦ σοφίας συγγενὴς γέγονε τῷ Φαραὼ, γήμας τὴν ἀδελφὴν τῆς γυναικὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ τεκνοποιῶν τὸν τρεφόμενον μεταξὺ τῶν παίδων τοῦ Φαραώ. διόπερ, εἰ καὶ ἐπανελήλυθεν εἰς τὴν γῆν Ἰσραὴλ, ἐπὶ τῷ διασχίσαι τὸν λαὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἐπανελή- λυθεν, καὶ ποιῆσαι αὐτοὺς εἰπεῖν ἐπὶ τῇ χρυσῇ δαμάλει· οὗτοί εἰσιν οἱ θεοί σου, Ἰσραὴλ, οἱ ἀναγαγόντες σε ἐκ γῆς Αἰγύπτου. κἀγὼ δὲ τῇ πείρᾳ μαθὼν εἴποιμ' ἄν σοι, ὅτι σπάνιος μὲν ὁ τὰ χρήσιμα τῆς Αἰγύπτου λαβὼν καὶ ἐξελθὼν ταύτης καὶ κατασκευάσας τὰ πρὸς τὴν λατρείαν τοῦ θεοῦ· πολὺς δὲ ὁ τοῦ Ἰδουμαίου Ἄδερ