On Prayer 26.4
Summary: An objection from Christ's words “all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” is met by applying them to the human nature of Christ, exalted and united with the divine Son.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:361–362
ἀντιλέγων δέ τις αὐτῇ παραθήσεται τὸ ἐπὶ τέλει τούτου τοῦ εὐαγγελίου μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου εἰρημένον πρὸς τοὺς ἕνδεκα μαθητάς· „ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς.“ ἔχων γὰρ ἐξουσίαν τῶν „ἐν οὐρανῷ“ φησι προσειληφέναι τὴν „ἐπὶ γῆς, “ τῶν μὲν „ἐν οὐρανῷ“ καὶ πρότερον ὑπὸ τοῦ λόγου πεφωτισμένων, ἐπὶ δὲ „τῇ συντελείᾳ τοῦ αἰῶνος“ καὶ τῶν „ἐπὶ γῆς“ διὰ τὴν δεδομένην ἐξουσίαν τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ μιμουμένων τὰ, ὧν ἐξουσίαν ὁ σωτὴρ ἔλαβεν. „ἐν οὐρανῷ“ κατορθουμένων. οἱονεὶ οὖν διὰ τῶν εὐχῶν συνεργοὺς πρὸς τὸν πατέρα βούλεται λαβεῖν τοὺς μαθητευομένους αὐτῷ, ἵνʼ ὁμοίως τοῖς „ἐν οὐρανῷ“ ὑποτεταγμένοις ἀληθείᾳ καὶ λόγῳ τὰ „ἐπὶ γῆς“ διορθωθέντα (διὰ) τὴν ἐξουσίαν, ἣν ἔλαβεν „ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς, “ εἰς τέλος ἀγάγῃ τῶν ἐξουσιαζομένων μακάριον. ὁ δὲ θέλων οὐρανὸν εἶναι τὸν σωτῆρα τὴν δὲ γῆν ἐκκλησίαν, τὸν πρωτότοκον „πάσης κτίσεως, “ ᾧ ὁ πατὴρ ὡς θρόνῳ ἐπαναπαύεται, φάσκων εἶναι τὸν οὐρανὸν, εὕροι ἂν „τὸν“ „ἄνθρωπον, “ ὃν ἐνεδύσατο οἰκειωθέντα ἐκείνῃ τῇ δυνάμει διὰ τὸ τεταπεινωκέναι „ἑαυτὸν“ καὶ γενόμενον ὑπήκοον „μέχρι θανάτου.“ λέγειν μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν τό· „ἐδόθη μοι πᾶσα ἐξουσία ὡς ἐν οὐρανῷ καὶ ἐπὶ γῆς“· λαβόντος τοῦ κατὰ τὸν σωτῆρα ἀνθρώπου τὴν ἐξουσίαν τῶν „οὐρανῷ“ οἷον τῶν ἐνυπαρχόντων τῷ μονογενεῖ, ἵνα αὐτῷ κοινωνῇ, ἀνακιρνάμενος ἐκείνου τῇ θεότητι καὶ ἑνούμενος αὐτῷ.
English · Claude translation
But someone objecting to this interpretation will cite what was said by the Lord to the eleven disciples at the end of this Gospel, after the resurrection: “All authority has been given to me, as in heaven so also on earth.” For having authority over the things “in heaven,” he says that he has received in addition authority over those “on earth”: the things “in heaven” having been enlightened by the Word even before, while at “the consummation of the age” those “on earth” too, through the authority given to the Son of God, imitate the things accomplished “in heaven,” over which the Savior received authority. So it is as though, through prayers, he wishes to take as fellow workers with the Father those who are his disciples, so that, when the things “on earth” have been set right through the authority he received “as in heaven so also on earth,” like the things “in heaven” subjected to truth and the Word, he may bring them to a blessed end for those under his authority. But the one who wishes heaven to be the Savior and the earth the church, saying that heaven is the firstborn “of all creation,” on whom the Father rests as on a throne, might find that “the man” whom he put on, having become united to that power because he “humbled himself” and became obedient “to the point of death,” says after the resurrection, “All authority has been given to me, as in heaven so also on earth”; the man in the Savior having received authority over the things “in heaven” which belong, as it were, to the Only-begotten, so that he may share with him, being blended with his divinity and united to him.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations and allusions are Matt 28:18, Matt 28:20, Col 1:15, and Phil 2:7–8. Origen's distinction between “the man” assumed by the Savior and the Only-begotten, and his language of “blending” (ἀνακιρνάμενος) and “uniting,” belong to the christological vocabulary before the councils of the fifth century. The sentence “the things accomplished … the Savior received authority” is garbled in the digital text (a repeated word, removed as a slip).
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (Latin letter o in place of Greek omicron in the digital text; repeated word fragment in the digital text): κατορθουμένων. μένων. → κατορθουμένων.; oἷον → οἷον.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 26.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/26/4/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 26.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/26/4/).
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