Fragmenta ex commentariis in Ezechielem

FROM THE [WORKS] OF ORIGEN ON EZEKIEL

From the 20th book of the [commentaries] on Ezekiel. 13.664 Thus says the Lord GOD; Behold, I will judge between sheep and sheep, rams and goats. And is it not enough for you, that you fed on the good pasture? And the rest of the pasture you trampled with your feet; and you drank the clear water, and the rest you muddied with your feet, and my sheep were feeding on what was trampled by your feet, and they drank the water muddied by your feet. (After having shown concerning the sheep and rams, and concerning sheep of goats, that it is customary for Scripture sometimes to use the word sheep also for the genus of goats, he adds.) What then is it which he enigmatically expresses also in these things, let us examine according to our ability. All good pasture, I think, and all the clear water are the whole oracles of the sacred writings. Then, since some approve some of the written things as profitable, but disapprove others as not salvific, these would be the ones who, after having fed on the good pasture which they chose, and drunk the clear water which they judged to be better, trample the rest of the pasture, and muddy the remaining water with their own feet. Such are both those who approve the New but disapprove the Old Testament, and those who [say that] of the ancient Writings some are from a more divine power and the highest, but others from an inferior one. But the shepherd proclaims as his own sheep those who do not disdain the things trampled by their feet, and do not despise the things trampled by the feet of the blameworthy sheep, goats, and kids; for they did not wish to be sheep of rams worthy of the right hand. We therefore, praying to be the shepherd's sheep, let us never flee from feeding on even those parts of the Scriptures that seem at once, as far as the literal sense goes, to be unseemly, and on account of the unseemliness of the language are trampled by those who are not able, nor willing, to make use of all the pasture. But even if there is some water muddied by their feet, [by those] having mixed blasphemous difficulties with the pure word of Scripture, let us not turn away on account of the confusion they have made in the word from drinking even that which has been muddied by their feet. And observe carefully that to those who muddied the water and trampled the pasture it is spoken as of superior ones: And my sheep were feeding on what was trampled by your feet, and they drank the water muddied by your 13.665 feet. But let us also never trample the prophetic pasture, nor muddy the legal water; but while some sin also concerning the evangelical pasture and the apostolic water, so as to trample some of the evangelical things, but to feed on others as good pasture, and of the apostolic things either to reject all or to approve some but reject others, let us feed on the whole Gospels, and trample none of them, and drinking all the apostolic things, as clear water as far as it is in our power, let us keep them so, and let us not muddy any of the things in them with an unbelief which disturbs those who do not know how to understand what is said.

Fragmenta ex commentariis in Ezechielem

ΑΠΟ ΤΩΝ ΩΡΙΓΕΝΟΥΣ ΕΙΣ ΤΟΝ ΙΕΖΕΚΙΗΑ

̓Εκ τοῦ κʹ τόμου τῶν εἰς τὸν Ἰεζεκιήλ. 13.664 Τάδε λέγει Κύριος Κύριος· Ἰδοὺ ἐγὼ ἀνακρινῶ ἀναμέσον προβάτου καὶ προβάτου, κριῶν καὶ τράγων. Καὶ οὐχ ἱκανὸν ὑμῖν, ὅτι τὴν καλὴν νομὴν ἐνέμεσθε; Καὶ τὰ κατάλοιπα τῆς νομῆς κατεπατεῖτε τοῖς ποσὶν ὑμῶν· καὶ τὸ καθεστηκὸς ὕδωρ ἐπίνετε, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν τοῖς ποσὶν ὑμῶν ἐταράσσετε, καὶ τὰ πρόβατά μου τὰ πατήματα τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν ἐνέμοντο, καὶ τὸ τεταραγμένον ὕδωρ ὑπὸ τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν ἔπινον. (Μετὰ τὸ παραστῆσαι περὶ τῶν προβάτων καὶ κριῶν, καὶ περὶ προβάτων αἰγῶν, ὅτι σύνηθες τῇ Γραφῇ τὸ πρόβατον καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ γένους τῶν αἰγῶν ἔσθ' ὅτε τάσσειν, ἐπιφέρει.) Τί οὖν ἐστιν ὃ καὶ ἐν τούτοις αἰνίσσεται, φέρε κατὰ δύναμιν ἐξετάσωμεν. Πᾶσα μὲν, οἶμαι, καλὴ νομὴ καὶ πᾶν τὸ καθεστηκὸς ὕδωρ τὰ ὅλα λόγιά ἐστι τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων. Εἶτ' ἐπεί τινες τὰ μὲν τῶν γεγραμμένων ἐγκρίνουσιν ὡς ὠφέλιμα, τινὰ δὲ ἀποδοκιμάζουσιν ὡς οὐ σωτήρια, οὗτοι ἂν εἶεν οἱ μετὰ τὸ νε- νεμῆσθαι τὴν καλὴν ὧν ἐξελέξαντο νομὴν, καὶ πεπωκέναι τὸ καθεστηκὸς οὗ ἔκριναν εἶναι βελτίονος ὕδατος, τὸ λοιπὸν τῆς νομῆς καταπατοῦντες, καὶ τὸ λοιπὸν ὕδωρ τοῖς ποσὶν ἑαυτῶν ταράσσοντες. Τοιοῦτοι δέ εἰσιν οἵτε τὴν μὲν Καινὴν ἐγκρίνοντες, τὴν δὲ Παλαιὰν ἀποδοκιμάζοντες ∆ιαθήκην, καὶ οἱ τῶν παλαιῶν Γραμμάτων τὰ μὲν ἀπὸ θειοτέρας λέγοντες εἶναι δυνάμεως καὶ τῆς ἀνωτάτω, τὰ δὲ ἀπὸ ὑποδεεστέρας. Πρόβατα δὲ ἴδια ἀναγορεύει ὁ ποιμὴν τοὺς μὴ ὑπερηφανοῦντας τὰ πατήματα τῶν ποδῶν ἐκείνων, καὶ μὴ ἐξουθενοῦντας τὰ πατήματα τῶν ποδῶν τῶν ψεκτῶν προβάτων, τράγων καὶ ἐρίφων· οὐ γὰρ ἐθέλησαν εἶναι πρόβατα κριῶν ἄξια τῶν δεξιῶν. Ἡμεῖς οὖν εὐχόμενοι εἶναι πρόβατα τοῦ ποιμένος, μηδέποτε φεύγωμεν νεμεσθῆναι καὶ τὰ αὐτόθεν ὅσον ἐπὶ τῷ ῥητῷ ἀπεμφαίνοντα τῶν Γραφῶν, καὶ διὰ τὴν ἀπέμφασιν τῆς λέξεως πατούμενα ὑπὸ τῶν μὴ δυναμένων, μηδὲ θελόντων χρῆσθαι πάσῃ τῇ νομῇ. Ἀλλὰ κἂν ᾖ τι ὕδωρ ὑπὸ τῶν ποδῶν ἐκείνων τεταραγμένον, ἀναμιξάντων τῷ καθαρῷ λόγῳ τῆς Γραφῆς δυσφήμους ἐπαπορήσεις, μὴ ἀποτρεπώμεθα δι' ἣν πεποιήκασι τῷ λόγῳ ταραχὴν πίνειν καὶ τὸ ὑπὸ τῶν ποδῶν αὐτῶν τεταραγμένον. Καὶ τήρει γε ἐπιμελῶς ὅτι πρὸς τοὺς ταράξαντας τὸ ὕδωρ καὶ πατήσαντας τὴν νομὴν λέγεται ὡς περὶ κρειττόνων· Καὶ τὰ πρόβατά μου τὰ πατήματα τῶν ποδῶν ὑμῶν ἐνέμοντο, καὶ τὸ τεταραγμένον ὕδωρ ὑπὸ τῶν 13.665 ποδῶν ὑμῶν ἔπινον. Ἀλλὰ καὶ μηδεπώποτε νομὴν προφητικὴν ἡμεῖς πατήσωμεν, μηδὲ ὕδωρ νομικὸν ταράξωμεν· ἁμαρτανόντων δέ τινων καὶ περὶ τὴν εὐαγγελικὴν νομὴν, καὶ τὸ ἀποστολικὸν ὕδωρ, ὥστε τῶν εὐαγγελικῶν τινα μὲν πατεῖν, τινὰ δὲ ὡς καλὴν νέμεσθαι νομὴν, καὶ τῶν ἀποστολικῶν ἢ πάντα ἀποκρίνειν ἤ τινα μὲν ἐγκρίνειν, τινὰ δὲ ἀποκρίνειν, ἡμεῖς καὶ τὰ ὅλα Εὐαγγέλια νεμηθῶμεν, καὶ μηδὲν αὐτῶν πατήσωμεν, καὶ πάντα τὰ ἀποστολικὰ πίνοντες, τὸ ὅσον ἐφ' ἡμῖν καθεστηκὸς ὕδωρ, αὐτὰ τηρήσωμεν καὶ μηδὲν τῶν ἐν αὐτοῖς ἀπιστίᾳ ταρασσούσῃ τοὺς οὐκ εἰδότας συνιέναι τῶν λεγομένων ταράξωμεν.