On Prayer 6.5
Summary: God foresaw Josiah's goodness, Judas's fall, and Paul's persecution and conversion, and arranged his help accordingly without taking away their freedom.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:314–315
οὕτως οὖν ἤδη οἱονεὶ ἐρεῖ ὁ προδιατασσόμενος τὰ ὅλα ὅτι Ἀμὼς γεννήσει τὸν Ἰωσίαν, ὅστις οὐ ζηλώσει τὰ τοῦ πατρὸς πταίσματα ἀλλὰ τυχὼν τῆσδε τῆς ἐπʼ ἀρετὴν προτρεπούσης ὁδοῦ διὰ τῶνδε τῶν συνεσομένων καλὸς ἔσται καὶ ἀγαθὸς, ὅστις κατασκάψει τὸ τοῦ Ἱεροβοὰμ κακῶς οἰκοδομηθὲν θυσιαστήριον. οἶδα δὲ καὶ Ἰούδαν. ἐπιδημήσαντός μου τοῦ υἱοῦ τῷ τῶν ἀνθρώπων γένει. κατὰ μὲν τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐσόμενον καλὸν καὶ ἀγαθὸν ὕστερον δὲ ἐκτραπησόμενον καὶ εἰς τὰ ἀνθρώπινα ἁμαρτήματα ἐκπεσούμενον, ὅντινα ἐπὶ τούτοις εὔλογον ἔσται παθεῖν τάδε τινά. (ἡ δὲ πρόγνωσις αὕτη τάχα μὲν ἐπὶ πάντων πάντως δὲ ἐπὶ Ἰούδα καὶ ἑτέρων μυστηρίων καὶ ἐν τῷ υἱῷ τοῦ θεοῦ γίνεται. ἑωρακότι τῇ κατανοήσει τοῦ ἐξελιγμοῦ τῶν ἐσομένων τὸν Ἰούδαν καὶ τὰ ἁμαρτήματα τὰ ἁμαρτηθησόμενα αὐτῷ· ὥστε μετὰ καταλήψεως αὐτὸν, καὶ πρὶν γενέσθαι τὸν Ἰούδαν. διὰ τοῦ Δαυῒδ εἰρηκέναι· „ὁ θεὸς, τὴν αἴνεσίν μου μὴ παρασιωπήσῃς“ καὶ τὰ ἑξῆς.) εἰδὼς δὲ τὰ μέλλοντα, καὶ ὁποῖον τόνον ἕξει πρὸς τὴν θεοσέβειαν ὁ Παῦλος, ἐν ἐμαυτῷ μὲν, πρὶν κτίσαι τὸν κόσμον ἐπιβαλλόμενος τῇ ἀρχῇ τῆς κοσμοποιΐας, αὐτὸν ἐπιλέξομαι καὶ ταῖσδε συνεργούσαις ἀνθρώπων σωτηρίᾳ δυνάμεσιν ἅμα τῷ γεννηθῆναι παραθήσομαι, ἀφορίζων αὐτὸν „ἐκ κοιλίας μητρὸς“ καὶ ἐπιτρέπων κατὰ τὰς ἀρχὰς ἐν νεότητι ζήλῳ μετὰ ἀγνοίας ἐγγινομένῳ προφάσει θεοσεβείας διώκειν τοὺς εἰς τὸν Χριστόν μου πεπιστευκότας καὶ τηρεῖν „τὰ ἱμάτια“ τῶν λιθοβολούντων τὸν θεραπευτήν μου καὶ μάρτυρα Στέφανον, ἵνα νεανιευσάμενος ὕστερον ἀφορμῆς λαβόμενος καὶ μεταβαλόμενος ἐπὶ τὰ βέλτιστα „μὴ καυχήσηται“ „ἐνώπιον“ ἐμοῦ ἀλλὰ λέγῃ· „οὐκ εἰμὶ ἱκανὸς καλεῖσθαι ἀπόστολος, διότι ἐδίωξα τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, “ καὶ αἰσθόμενος τῆς ἐσομένης μου εἰς αὐτὸν εὐεργεσίας μετὰ τὰ ἐν νεότητι προφάσει θεοσεβείας πταίσματα εἴπῃ· „χάριτι δὲ θεοῦ εἰμι ὅ εἰμι“· καὶ κωλυόμενος δὲ ὑπὸ τοῦ συνειδότος διὰ τὰ ὑπὸ νεανίου αὐτοῦ ἔτι τυγχάνοντος πεπραγμένα κατὰ Χριστοῦ οὐχ ὑπερεπαρθήσεται „τῇ ὑπερβολῇ τῶν“ ἐπʼ εὐεργεσίᾳ φανερωθησομένων αὐτῷ „ἀποκαλύψεων.“
English · Claude translation
So he who preordains all things will already, as it were, say: “Amos will beget Josiah, who will not imitate his father's faults, but, having found this path that urges him to virtue through those who will be with him, will be noble and good, and will tear down the altar that Jeroboam wickedly built. And I know also that Judas, when my Son has come to dwell among the human race, will at first be noble and good, but later will turn aside and fall into human sins, so that for these it will be reasonable for him to suffer these particular things.” (This foreknowledge, perhaps about all things, but certainly about Judas and other mysteries, is also in the Son of God, who by contemplating the unfolding of future events saw Judas and the sins he would commit; so that with full comprehension, even before Judas existed, he said through David, “O God, do not keep silent at my praise,” and what follows.) “And knowing the future, and what vigor Paul will have toward piety, I will choose him in myself before I create the world, when I set about the beginning of the making of the world, and at his birth I will entrust him to these powers that work for the salvation of men, setting him apart ‘from his mother's womb,’ and allowing him at first, in his youth, through a zeal that comes with ignorance under pretext of piety, to persecute those who have believed in my Christ and to keep ‘the garments’ of those who stoned my servant and martyr Stephen; so that later, after the rashness of youth, taking an occasion and changing to the best things, he may ‘not boast’ ‘before’ me, but may say, ‘I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God,’ and, perceiving the kindness I will show him after the faults of his youth committed under pretext of piety, may say, ‘But by the grace of God I am what I am’; and, restrained by his conscience because of what he did against Christ while still a young man, he will not be too much elated ‘by the surpassing greatness of the revelations’ revealed to him for his benefit.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The references are 1 Kgs 13:2 and 2 Kgs 23:15 (Josiah and Jeroboam's altar; Josiah's father was Amon, spelled Ἀμώς in the text), Ps 109:1 (108:1 LXX), Gal 1:15, Acts 7:58, 1 Cor 1:29, 1 Cor 15:9–10, and 2 Cor 12:7. The first-person speech is Origen's illustration of God's foreknowledge.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 6.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/6/5/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 6.5 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/6/5/).
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