On Prayer 27.15
Summary: Origen conjectures that the present age is the end of one “year” of ages, after which further ages will come in which God will show the riches of his grace.
Textual problem in this passage: the printed text is uncertain or disputed here. See the notes.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:374
πολλάκις δέ μοι ἐπῆλθεν ἀπορεῖν, συγκρούοντι δύο λέξεις ἀποστολικὰς, πῶς συντέλεια „αἰώνων“ ἐστὶν, ἐφʼ ᾗ „ἅπαξ“ „εἰς ἀθέτησιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν“ Ἰησοῦς „πεφανέρωται, “ εἰ μέλλουσιν εἶναι αἰῶνες μετὰ τοῦτον ἐπερχόμενοι. ἔχουσι δὲ αἱ λέξεις αὐτοῦ οὕτως, ἐν μὲν τῇ πρὸς Ἑβραίους· „νυνὶ δὲ ἅπαξ ἐπὶ συντελείᾳ τῶν αἰώνων εἰς ἀθέτησιν τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν διὰ τῆς θυσίας αὐτοῦ πεφανέρωται, “ ἐν δὲ τῇ πρὸς Ἐφεσίους· „ἵνα ἐνδείξηται ἐν τοῖς αἰῶσι τοῖς ἐπερχομένοις τὸ ὑπερβάλλον πλοῦτος τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἐν χρηστότητι ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς.“ καὶ περὶ τηλικούτων στοχαζόμενος νομίζω ὅτι, ὥσπερ συντέλεια τοῦ ἐνιαυτοῦ ὁ τελευταῖός ἐστι μὴν, μεθʼ ὃν ἀρχὴ μηνὸς ἑτέρου ἐνίσταται· οὕτω μή ποτε, πλειόνων αἰώνων οἱονεὶ ἐνιαυτὸν αἰώνων συμπληρούντων, συντέλειά ἐστιν ὁ ἐνεστὼς αἰὼν, μεθʼ ὃν μέλλοντές τινες αἰῶνες ἐνστήσονται, ὧν ἀρχή ἐστιν ὁ μέλλων, καὶ ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς μέλλουσιν ἐνδείξεται ὁ θεὸς τὸν πλοῦτον „τῆς χάριτος αὐτοῦ ἐν χρηστότητι“· τοῦ ἁμαρτωλοτάτου καὶ εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα δυσφημήσαντος κρατουμένου παρὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ ἐνεστῶτι αἰῶνι καὶ ἀρχῆθεν μέχρι τέλους τῷ μέλλοντι μετὰ ταῦτα οὐκ οἶδʼ ὅπως οἰκονομησομένου.
English · Claude translation
I have often been perplexed, when I compare two sayings of the apostle, how there is a consummation “of the ages,” at which Jesus “has appeared” “once for all” “to put away sins,” if there are to be ages coming after this one. His words run thus, in the Letter to the Hebrews: “But now once for all at the consummation of the ages he has appeared to put away sins by the sacrifice of himself”; and in the Letter to the Ephesians: “so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us.” And conjecturing about such great matters, I think that, just as the last month is the consummation of the year, after which the beginning of another month comes, so perhaps, since many ages complete as it were a year of ages, the present age is a consummation, after which certain ages to come will arrive, whose beginning is the age to come; and in those ages to come God will show the riches “of his grace in kindness”; while the greatest sinner, who has blasphemed against the Holy Spirit, is held by sin in the whole present age, and from beginning to end in the age to come, and after that will be dealt with I know not how.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Heb 9:26 and Eph 2:7; the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit alludes to Matt 12:32. The idea of a series of future ages is Origen's own speculation (compare On First Principles 2.3), marked by him as a conjecture; he states that he does not know what will become of the worst sinner after the age to come.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (missing accent and breathing in the digital text; stray punctuation mark in the digital text): ἐφʼ ῃ → ἐφʼ ᾗ; τῶν· ἁμαρτιῶν → τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 27.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/27/15/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 27.15 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/27/15/).
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