Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah — Homily 16
Greek source: Origen, Homilies on Jeremiah (Ὁμιλίαι εἰς τὸν Ἰερεμίαν), from the public-domain critical text of Erich Klostermann, GCS 6 = Origenes Werke III (Leipzig, 1901); digital text accessed via the First1KGreek project. This English translation is released into the public domain.
[§1] It is recorded in the Gospel according to Matthew that our Savior came alongside the Sea of Galilee and saw "Simon and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen." Then the text says that the Savior, seeing them, said: "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they left their nets and followed him." And Jesus made them take up the work of fishing for men. And "he found two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with their father, mending their nets; and these too he called" to the same skill, and he made these also fishers of men. And if anyone has considered those who have from God the grace of a word woven together like nets and composed out of the sacred Scriptures like a casting-net, so that the mesh is thrown around the souls of the hearers, and has considered too that this is done skillfully according to the art, he will see in a certain manner that not only then but also now our Savior sends out fishers of men, having trained them, so that we may be able to come up from the sea and to flee its bitter waves.
But those fish, the soulless ones, when they come up in the dragnets and in the casting-nets and in the nets or on the hooks, die a death in which life does not succeed death. But the one caught by the fishermen of Jesus and brought up from the sea also himself dies, yet he dies to the world, he dies to sin, and after dying to the world and to sin he is made alive by the Word of God and takes up another life. As if, for the sake of argument, you could conceive of the soul of the fish changing after it goes out from the body of the fish and becoming something better than a fish (I have taken an illustration; let no one seize on it as a pretext † as though he had not heard), then you will conceive of something of this sort. You have come up from the sea, having fallen under the nets of the disciples of Jesus; having gone out, you change your soul, you are no longer a fish spending its time in the salty waves of the sea, but immediately your soul changes and is transformed and becomes something better and more divine than what it was before. And that it is transformed and changed, hear Paul saying: "But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord." And when he has been transformed, this fish caught by the fishermen of Jesus, leaving behind his haunts in the sea, makes his haunts in the mountains, so that he no longer has need of the fishermen who bring him up from the sea, but of certain others, who are named hunters, who hunt "from every mountain and from every hill."
Having therefore come up from the sea and been caught in the nets of the disciples of Jesus, change from the sea, forget it, come to the mountains, the prophets, and to the hills, the righteous, and make your haunts there, so that afterward, when the time of your departure comes upon you, you may be hunted by the hunters. And who would these be but those appointed over receiving the souls that are on the hills, those not lying below? And see whether the prophet does not cry out mystically in saying these things and presenting this meaning in the words: "Behold, I send many fishermen, says the Lord, and they shall fish for them; and after this I will send many hunters, and they shall hunt them upon every mountain and upon every hill."
[§2] If, then, you wish to be caught by the hunters, see that you do not make your haunts in the hollows, nor spend your time somewhere below, but seek out the mountains. Go up to the mountain where Jesus was transfigured, go up to the mountain onto which "seeing the crowds Jesus went up," and the disciples followed him, where "opening his mouth he taught, saying: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and the beatitudes that follow these.
And it is not permitted for these hunters to catch from anywhere else than from the mountains and the hills and from the clefts of the rocks. For these three things are spoken of in the prophet: "For I will send many hunters, and they shall hunt them upon every mountain and upon every hill and from the clefts of the rocks." From where, then, shall I understand the rocks and the clefts in the rocks? I come to Exodus, I seek to find a trace of an account of the clefts of the rocks, I find Moses there wishing to know God, and God promising to him and saying: "Behold, I will place you in a hole of the rock, and you shall behold my back parts; but my face shall not be seen by you." If you understand the rock there and see there the hole in the rock, he who sees beholds God through the hole in the rock, you will see also the many rocks and their clefts. Who, then, is that one rock? "And the rock was Christ"; "for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them," and "he set my feet upon a rock," as is said in the thirty-ninth Psalm. What is the hole in the rock? If you see the sojourn of Jesus, conceiving the whole of him as a rock, you will see the hole in accordance with his sojourn, through which hole the things after God are contemplated. For such a thing is meant in the words "and you shall see my back parts."
[§3] But I have found one hole of one rock; I pass over in my discourse from the hole to the cleft of the rock, I seek also the many rocks. If I come to the chorus, whether of the prophets or of the apostles or even of the holy angels who have ascended higher, I say that all the imitators of Christ, since he is a rock, become rocks. And just as he has a hole through which the back parts of God are perceived, in the same manner each one, giving a way for God to be perceived through the things spoken by him, makes in himself a hole, or, if you wish to name it otherwise, a cleft. From which hole or cleft you will see, through Moses, the law, and through Isaiah his prophecy, and through Jeremiah other words of God. And if there is also an angel speaking, as he spoke according to what is said in the words "and the angel who speaks in me," there too I take my stand upon the angel, and I see there too a rock and a hole of a rock, and I see God angelically.
[§4] But I have need of an example, so that I may present how it is possible, having come to an angel, to see God also through the angel. For it is written in Exodus: "An angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of a bush. And Moses sees that the bush burns with fire, and the bush is not consumed." And the Scripture did not say, as it said at the beginning that "an angel appeared," so say that it was an angel of the Lord, but "I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." God, then, was there being contemplated in the angel, as through the rock God is known, and through the hole that is in it.
You do not know, then, when the hunters are sent. On this account never come down from the mountains, nor leave the hills, nor be outside the clefts of the rocks; for if you are found outside, it will be said to you, as to one who happens to be outside and speaks the things of those outside: "Fool, this night they demand your soul from you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?" These things will be said to you; and these things too will be said to you, if you should say: "I will pull down my barns and build greater ones, and I will say to my soul: Soul, you have good things laid up for many years; rest, eat, drink, be merry." You see the one below the mountains, the one below the hills, the one outside the clefts of the rocks, how he is deceived even in his judgment concerning good things, thinking these to be good things. Therefore he says: "And I will say to my soul: Soul, you have good things laid up for many years." He has reckoned the grain and the abundance of earthly things to be good things; for he did not see that the truly good things are not in the accursed earth, but the truly good things are in heaven. He was laying up treasure on earth, since he supposed that the things on earth were good. But if anyone should change from laying up treasure "on earth," being persuaded by Jesus, to laying up treasure "in heaven," it will not be said to him: "Fool, this night they demand your soul from you," but the hunters, coming, seeking not the things below but the living creatures in the mountains, those in the hills, those sheltered in the clefts of the rocks, will catch these and lead them away from that hunting. Where? To the rest of the holy and blessed ones in Christ Jesus.
For "my eyes," he says, "are upon all their ways." Upon such as these, who make their haunts in the mountains and in the hills and in the clefts of the rocks, upon all their ways God has his eyes. "And they were not hidden from my face," such as these; for the wicked are hidden from the face of God. Adam, after the transgression, heard "the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening" and hid himself; but the holy one is not hidden, but has a heart with boldness before God in accordance with the holy conduct of life. For "if our conscience does not condemn us, we have boldness before God, and whatever we ask we receive from him." Now Adam, even if he sinned, did not sin a sin exceeding in grievousness; on this account he hid himself "from the face of God." But Cain, more sinful than he and most impious, the fratricide, what did he do? "He went out from the face of God." So that, by comparison of evils, to be hidden from the face of God is the lesser; for this one hides not shamelessly, but out of reverence for God. "They were not hidden," then, "from my face." These, who did these things, were once in sins and were fished up from the sins that are in the sea.
[§5] Therefore, that those who were fished up and afterward came to the mountains might not suppose that these things came about for them out of righteousness, the word reminds not only them but also us of our former sins. Therefore, after the benefits, it is said: "And their wrongdoings were not hidden from before my eyes."
The following words are going to produce a struggle for us. For whether we understand them as consequent, we shall take careful thought concerning the recompense of sins; or whether they seem not to be consequent upon the things previously set forth concerning those fished up and hunted, in that way too they cast us into no ordinary struggle. For he says: "And I will first repay double their iniquities and their sins, whereby they profaned my land with the carcasses of their abominations and with their lawlessnesses, with which they filled my inheritance." Whether some, not understanding it, removed the word "first" from what was written, or whether the Seventy managed to remove it, God would know. We, however, comparing with the remaining editions, found it stands written: "And I will first repay double their iniquities," so that it may be made clear that, even if they should be worthy of blessedness on account of their later works, since they are human beings and have been in sins, they must first receive back their sins. And see whether the word is not true. Who will not receive back his sins except the one who, after believing and receiving forgiveness of sins (so as to hear Jesus saying: "Your sins are forgiven you"), no longer sins? But if after the forgiveness of sins and the dispensation of the washing of regeneration we should sin, as we, the many, who have not been perfected like the apostles, and after sinning and along with sinning we should also do some things duly, what awaits us must be considered. Then, if we depart from life having sins, but having also brave deeds, shall we be saved on account of the brave deeds, but released concerning the things sinned in knowledge? Or shall we be punished on account of the sins, but nowhere receive a reward for the brave deeds? But neither the one — I mean receiving back the worse things but not receiving the better — is in accordance with a just God, nor the other — I mean receiving back the better things but not receiving the worse — is in accordance with a just God, who wishes to purge and cut out wickedness. For suppose that you have built, upon the foundation Christ Jesus which you were taught, not only "gold and silver and precious stone" — if indeed you have gold, and much gold or little; suppose that you have silver, precious stone, and I say not these alone, but suppose that you have also "wood and hay and stubble" — what do you wish to happen to you after your departure? Whether at some point to enter into the holy places with your wood and with your hay and stubble, so that you may defile the kingdom of God? But again, do you wish to remain behind on account of the hay, on account of the wood, on account of the stubble in the fire, and to receive nothing for the gold and silver and precious stone? Neither is this reasonable.
[§6] What, then? First it follows that, on account of the wood, one receives back the fire that consumes the wood and the hay and the stubble; for our God is said in his essence, to those who are able to understand, to be a consuming fire. And the prophet was silent as to what it consumes when he said: "Our God is a consuming fire," but he left it to us to understand. When he said: "God is a consuming fire," there is something that is consumed. What, then, is that which is consumed? For he does not consume that which is according to his image and likeness, he does not consume his own creation, but the hay that was built upon, the wood that was built upon, the stubble that was built upon.
The passage was exceedingly hard to expound. There were promises, and after the promises he says: "And I will first repay double their iniquities." Of necessity the word "first" is added; for first the things of iniquity, then the things of righteousness are repaid, for God does not repay in reverse order. If he first repaid the good things, so that we might receive back the good things, but now he repays the evil things, the good things would have to cease, so that we might receive back the evil things. But first we shall receive back the evil things, and after these the good things, so that through the abolition of the evils the things of the chastisement of those who suffer may reach their end, so that after these he may repay the good things. Therefore you will find in the sacred Scriptures God speaking first the things that seem to be more gloomy and after these the better things. "I will kill and I will make alive; I will strike, and I will heal." "He himself makes to suffer pain and again restores; he struck, and his hands healed." Upon these things it is possible for the one who understands and is piously disposed toward what is said to say: "Lord, who shall sojourn in your tabernacle? Or who shall dwell in your holy mountain? He that walks blameless and works righteousness, that speaks truth in his heart; who did not deceive with his tongue, and did not do evil to his neighbor, and did not take up a reproach against those nearest to him." (But we reproach even those who repent and turn back, though the Scripture says: "Do not reproach a person who turns away from sin.") "He did not take up a reproach against those nearest to him; the evildoer is brought to nothing before him, but he glorifies those who fear the Lord." All of us, then, who have material for that fire, shall first receive back our sins.
[§7] But one of those who hear will say: expound also the word "double"; for suppose that I first receive back my sins, so that when I have received back the sins, after this there may be fulfilled what is said by the apostle: "If anyone's work shall be burned up, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire" — why then do I receive back my sins "double"? But it must be said that "the servant who knew the will of the master and did not act according to his will shall be beaten," not with few but with "many stripes." It is fitting, then, that those from among the nations who sin receive back their sins single, but that we receive back our faults double; "for if we sin willingly after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a zeal of fire that is about to devour the adversaries." The things concerning those who would be fished up and hunted and would first receive back double their sins were prophesied. After these things the calling of the nations is prophesied more clearly, of those not being called but already called, and of those not not knowing what they should confess and for what they should give thanks, but of those who have already learned. For in the former things we were learning that they were called, fished up, hunted, but what they will experience in the latter things. Let us see what he prophesies concerning us who are already learning to pray, or rather have learned.
[§8] "Lord, my strength and my help and my refuge in the day of evils; to you the nations shall come from the end of the earth and shall say: As false things did our fathers acquire idols, and there is no profit in them." From the end of the earth the nations came to God, and the nations have said: "As false things did our fathers acquire idols, and there is no profit in them"? How "from the end of the earth"? There are some who are first of the earth and there are some who are last of the earth. Who are the first? "The wise of the world" are first of the earth, not simply first; "the wise of the world, the well-born," the rich, the men of rank. Who are the last? "The foolish things of the world God has chosen, the base things, the things despised, the things that are not." "The nations shall come," then, "from the end of the earth," as if he said: from the last of the human beings on earth, from the foolish, from the base, from the despised, "and they shall say: As false things did our fathers acquire idols, and there is no profit in them." Not that there are some true idols, in contradistinction to which the false ones are spoken of, but idols which are by nature false; "and there is no profit in them."
[§9] "Shall a man make gods for himself?" Not only from images do human beings make gods for themselves, but you will find human beings making gods for themselves also from fabrications; for as many as are able to fabricate another god and another cosmogony besides the one recorded by the Spirit, a dispensation of the world besides the true world, all these have made gods for themselves and have worshiped the works of their hands. For instance, conceive for me, whether among the Greeks those who begot doctrines, say, of this philosophy or of that, or among the heresies those who first begot doctrines, these have made for themselves idols and fabrications of the soul, and turning aside have worshiped the works of their own hands, having accepted their own fabrications as truth. Convicting, then, all those who make gods for themselves both perceptibly and intelligibly, the word says: "Shall a man make gods for himself, and are these not gods? Therefore, behold, I will show them my hand at this time, and I will make known to them my power." At what time but this? And indicating the time of the coming of the Lord: "And they shall know," he says, "that my name is Lord."
[§10] Then there is another prophecy, which — I do not know how — we did not find among the Seventy, but we found in the remaining editions, clearly lying in the Hebrew, and it is filled with matters most necessary, able, if we attend, to turn our soul back. And the words are thus: "The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with an adamantine point engraved upon the breast of their heart." It is possible to give oneself over to the easier course and to say: these things are written concerning the Jews, that their sin "is written." But if you see, as we have often shown, Judah spoken of figuratively as Christ, perhaps "the sin of Judah" is ours who believe on Christ who is from the tribe of Judah. But if you are able to hear otherwise, in a more mystical way, perhaps he prophesies concerning Judas the betrayer, so that the prophecy is concerning him, saying: "The sin of Judas is written with a pen of iron, with an adamantine point engraved upon the breast of the heart"; but again the word "their" does not follow with respect to that man. Perhaps, then, he was speaking with reference to us, that, if we become sinners, these prophesied things overtake us. We have sinned, and our sin is not written outside us, but in our heart, and it is written "with a pen of iron, with an adamantine point." And that the sins which we sin are inscribed into us through the sinning, the matter itself will present. I was not conscious to myself of this or that matter or of this or that sin. Having done it, I have an imprint of it, and, as it were, there is written the imprint of my sin that has been sinned in my soul. And if my sin were written with ink, I would have wiped it out; but as it is, it is written "with a pen of iron," it is written "with an adamantine point," it is written "upon the breast of the heart" of ours, so that I may come to the tribunal and the prophecy be fulfilled that says: "There is nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest, and nothing covered that shall not be revealed." My breast was laid bare, and my heart having the letters of sin inscribed "with the pen," upon my breast and in my heart the imprints of my sins. "For there is nothing hidden that shall not be made manifest," but "amid one another the reasonings accusing or even defending," and "judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both illuminate the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts." To whom will he make them manifest? Not to himself; for he himself knows "all things before their coming to be." But to whom, then, will he make them manifest? To all those who are going to see, on account of their own purity, the sin of the one who has sinned, so that the sinners "may rise up to reproach and to everlasting shame"; from which may the God of all deliver us, so that we may rise up to the glory that is in Christ, to whom is the glory and the might unto the ages. Amen.