Sophia Scriptura

On the Witch of Endor (Homily on 1 Samuel 28)

De engastrimytho · Περὶ τῆς ἐγγαστριμύθου

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Contents

  1. 1Of the four passages read from 1 Samuel, the bishop asks Origen to preach on Saul and the woman who seemed to bring up Samuel.
  2. 2Unlike some Old Testament stories, the account of Samuel and the medium concerns everyone, since it raises the question whether after death even a prophet's soul could fall under a demon's power.
  3. 3Some Christians deny that Samuel was really brought up, holding that the demon in the medium lied, since it is unthinkable that so holy a prophet, or any prophet, should be in Hades.
  4. 4Origen answers that the narrator of Scripture, the Holy Spirit, says plainly that the woman saw Samuel, that Saul “knew” it was Samuel, and that Samuel spoke, foretelling truthfully God's transfer of the kingdom, which a demon could not do.
  5. 5The words spoken to Saul, foretelling David's kingship, Israel's defeat, and Saul's death the next day, are true prophecies of God that no demon could know.
  6. 6Christ, greater than all prophets, himself went down to Hades to conquer death, as the Psalms and Acts say; so it is not absurd that the prophets, including Samuel, went there before him as physicians to proclaim his coming.
  7. 7The medium saw “gods” coming up, perhaps other holy souls or angels with Samuel; the saints go wherever souls need salvation, and John the Baptist went to Hades before Christ to announce him, his question from prison meaning “Will you come even to Hades?”
  8. 8As Christ remained Christ when he descended to Hades, so the prophets and Samuel, going down there to help the souls, remained holy, below in place but above in purpose; a demon could not have prophesied David's kingship.
  9. 9Samuel kept his prophetic gift after death and used it for the souls in Hades, who needed to hear of Christ's coming; before Christ no one, not even Abraham, could pass the flaming sword to paradise, so the saints waited for him who is the way.
  10. 10Since Christ has opened the way, Christians who die well no longer go down to Hades to wait, as the ancients did, but pass through the flaming sword into paradise, receiving their wages first though they came last.

About this work

Author
Origen
Attribution
authentic · A sermon of Origen on 1 Samuel 28 (1 Kingdoms 28 LXX), transmitted in the same manuscript as the Homilies on Jeremiah. Eustathius of Antioch wrote a treatise against it in the fourth century.
Standing
Not honoured as a saint or in a church calendar by the Catholic, Orthodox, or Protestant traditions. Deposed by Demetrius of Alexandria (ca. 231) but kept as teacher by the churches of Caesarea and Jerusalem; condemned only long after his death.
Date
ca. 240 (approximate) · Preached at Caesarea, probably in the same period as the Homilies on Jeremiah.
Written at
Caesarea, Palestine (probable)
Language
Greek
Genre
homily
Reference system
section (Klostermann's ten sections)
SBL abbreviation
Engastr.Not yet checked
Clavis
CPG 1423 (not yet checked)
Text from
Erich Klostermann, ed., Origenes Werke 3: Jeremiahomilien, Klageliederkommentar, Erklärung der Samuel- und Königsbücher, GCS 6 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1901) (Printed edition in the public domain; digital text CC BY-SA 4.0)
Critical editions
Pierre Nautin and Marie-Thérèse Nautin, Origène: Homélies sur Samuel, SC 328 (Paris: Cerf, 1986) (cited, not reproduced)
CTS URN
urn:cts:greekLit:tlg2042.tlg013

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