The School of Alexandria - Origen - Ch 15 - Spritual Life
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Spiritual Life
MASTER OF SPIRITUAL LIFE
R. Cadiou who wrote four chapters on the Spirituality of
Origen says, &Origen was, above everything else, a man devoted to the things of the
Henri de Lubac says,
Like John the Evangelist, he &reclined at the breast of
Jesus.& The one for whom he as a boy would have wished to meet martyrdom had forever
enraptured the depths of his soul.
Jean Dani閘ou says,
Gregory of Nyssa and Evagrius Ponticus, the two great theorists who
wrote on mystical theology in the fourth century, were both disciples of his (writings),
and if Gregory went further than Origen in stressing the part played in the mystical union
by love without light, he still was closely dependent on him. The line of thought started
by Origen was carried on in the spirituality of the east by the Pseudo-Dionysius, who was
a disciple of Gregory of Nyssa. Maximus the Confessor depends on him either directly or
through Evagrius and the Pseudo-Dionysius, as Fr. Von Balthasar has shown. In addition,
his spiritual teaching was transmitted to the West through Evagrius Ponticus, who handed
it on to Cassian.
Walter Volker, whose interest is in spirituality, regards Origen as a
master of spiritual life and a great mystic.
Fr. Aloysius Lieske accuses Volker of failing to see that Origen’s
mystical theology is rooted in dogma and the Church. In fact, Origen uses some of the
concepts found in the Platonist mystical writings in circulation at the time, just as St.
Clement of Alexandria had done before him, but his theology of spiritual life struck a
chord in the hearts of so many Christians, because it is first and foremost a product of
the Bible. In Origen’s opinion there was no book equal to the holy Bible.
SPIRITUAL LIFE
A JOURNEY OF THE SOUL
Origen considers spiritual life as a serious journey of the soul.
Through this journey the soul returns by divine grace to her original nature, and becomes
an icon of God. Thus, she can be raised up through canonical struggling till her return to
the bosom of God.
It is a dangerous trip, or it is a continuos battle, but it has its
sweetness through unceasing victory over the evil world, sin and demons. Believers examine
the work of the Holy Trinity while they are struggling.
Through His grace God leads the soul on and on, from a knowledge of
one’s self to the struggle against sin, to practices of asceticism, to the mystical
ascent, until at last she is admitted to the mystical (spiritual) union with
the Logos:
The soul is moved by heavenly love and longing when, having clearly
beheld the beauty and the fairness of the Word of God,
it falls deeply in love with His loveliness and receives from the Word
Himself a certain dart and wound of love...
If, then, a man can so extend his thinking as to ponder and consider
the beauty and the grace of all the things that have been created in the Word, the very
charm of them will so smite him, the grandeur of their brightness will so pierce him as
with a chosen dart, as the prophet says (Isa. 49:2), that he will suffer from the dart
Himself a saving wound, and will be kindled with the blessed fire of His love.
This trip of the souls is the ladder of Paradise, which the
patriarch Jacob saw, being traversed by those spirits that fall away or by those other
spirits that are restored, in the course of several lives, to the dignity they had at the
beginning. The poem of heaven unrolls according to the same law. Heaven is peopled by
souls that have fallen away but are more meek and mild than the others to wisdom, and they
take part in the splendid liturgy of the celestial city. Moreover, a more perfect
universe, is to come, in which matter, having become pure and ethereal, will form the new
DISCOVERING ONESELF
The first stage of spiritual life is that in which a believer returns
to himself, acknowledges himself, and discovers world in miniature within himself.
Origen understands that the real world is the world inside man,
or his spiritual being, which in a sense partakes of the nature of God. His concept
originated in the meeting of two great doctrines:
1. The biblical one that man was created as an icon of God. To be more
precise, man was made not just in God’s icon but in the icon of the Logos. It is said
in the Book of the Song of Songs, &If you know not yourself, O fairest among women,
go forth and follow after the steps of the flocks& (Song 1:7).
2. The Platonist one that man’s perfection depends on his likeness
Man is also involved in the life of the senses, which is foreign to his
essence. he loses God’s icon in so far as he molds himself to the pattern of animal
life. Spiritual life will therefore consist of the process by which he returns to his true
nature, his efforts first to realize what he is and then to try and recover his real
nature by destroying the power of his corrupt animal life. To the extent to which he
succeeds, he will recover the image of God that once was in him and in it will see God.
In other words, a believer in acknowledging his inner-self feels two
realities:
1. His need to returning to his original nature by divine grace.
Who, although they have been given by God the grace of thinking on
and understanding many things, neglect other spheres of knowledge and give no heed to
self-knowledge.
He who does not realize his own weakness and the divine grace, even if
he receives a benefit before he has come to know himself and condemn himself, will come as
his own achievement what has actually been freely supplied him from the heavenly grace.
This produces pride and arrogance, and will be a cause of his downfall.
2. The real world is within him.
Understand that you are another and that there is within you the
sun, the moon, and the stars...
Do you doubt that the sun and the moon are within you to whom it is
said that you are the light of the world?
Soul's journey and return to God
Origen explains spiritual life and progress, using different metaphors:
1. A Journey.
2. Growth to maturity .
3. Struggling in a spiritual battle.
I. A JOURNEY
Origen sees that all Church worship and liturgies are a divine journey.
Baptism, for example is presented as the exodus and entrance to the true promised land, as
the restoration of Paradise, and as entrance into the heavenly Jerusalem.
According to Rown A. Greer, Origen’s writings reveal that his
primary interest lies in the drama of the soul's struggle to return to God or to
attain unity with God. Origen's views of martyrdom, prayer and Scripture merge into
one vision of the Christian life as a movement towards a perfect knowledge of God and perfect
fellowship with Him through Christ.
Jean Dani閘ou in his book, &Origen,& says that the spiritual
journey begins with the advances made by the Word, our Savior. The soul’s response is
her conversion: she sets out after Him as the Hebrews in Egypt did after the pillar of
cloud, which was a figure of the Word or of the Holy Ghost. Origen then goes on to
describe the successive stages in the journey, the various places where the soul stops and
Origen finds this journey in the symbol of the crossing of the desert
by the children of Israel.
The stages of this journey through the desert are figures of the
mystical stages of our spiritual pilgrimage.
STAGES OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY
I give here a summary of some stages of this journey which Origen
presents in his Homilies on Exodus.
I. Entering the desert, leaving Raamses and every earthly thing.
We have to leave Pharaoh, the symbol of the devil, and
his land. He does not want us to leave him, for he wants us to have the image of the man
of dust and not bear the image of the Heavenly One (1 Cor. 15:49).
Those alone will have the courage to do this who desire no other lot
here below but God. Moreover, it is possible only if we are upheld by Christ &who
is our strength,& and if we are guided by Moses (a symbol of faith) and Aaron (a
symbol of works of worship). Moses himself did not know whither he was going, but
&the Lord Himself became his guide,& for the pillar of fire and the cloud
were the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The devil begins to tremble when souls start their journey under
the guidance of Christ, the Word and High-Priest, saying with Pharaoh, &lest they
multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight
against us, and so go up off the land& (Exod. 1:10).
Souls must leave Raamses (Exod. 1:11), which means &city of
corruption or agitation.& The enemy wants the souls to be in Raamses, in hard bondage
and in confusion,, making bricks by mud, instead of contemplating on heavenly things..
&If you wish to be perfect, sell all your possessions and give
to the poor, and you will hav and come, follow Me& (Matt.
This is to depart from Raamses, and to follow Christ.
II. Celebrating the Pasch
The Hebrews celebrated the Pasch in Egypt, and the next
day set out on their journey.
Origen states that the lamb of the Pasch must be roasted in fire (Exod.
12:9), for the believer is in need of the fiery spirit, holding the fiery words of God, as
it is said to Jeremiah &Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire& (Jer.
5:14). Thus on hearing Christ speaking in us, we say, &Did not our heart burn within
us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the scriptures to us? .&
We go out of a world which is upset and agitated (Raamses), and
we arrive at Sochoth, which means &the tents,& for the soul is now
a stranger here below. She lives in tents till she arrives to the everlasting house.
III. Camping in the third station: Etham (Exod. 13:20)
On the third station, which is a symbol of the resurrection of Christ
on the third day, the soul encamps in Etham, which means &sign.& It is
the &Mystery of the Third Day,& by which the Lord guides the
believer and reveals to him the beginning of the way of salvation.
A believer cannot enter the wilderness of temptations and troubles,
unless he has the experience of the risen life in Christ. There the Lord goes before the
believer by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to
give him light, so as to go by day and night (Exod. 13:21).
Origen refers to the mystery of the third day on many occasions, for he
believes that a believer cannot realize the trip of his soul unless he is supported by the
resurrection of Christ, which had been realized on the third day.
I have mentioned this mystery in the previous book.
* Through the risen life of Christ, our thoughts, words and deeds (3)
are sanctified, also the three elements of a believer would be sanctified.
* Abraham after the arrival of the appointed place on the third day
(Gen. 22:4) offered joyfully his son Isaac as a burnt offering, as he beheld the sign of
the resurrection of Christ.
* Moses asked Pharaoh to permit the people to go for three days in the
desert to offer sacrifices to God (Exod. 3:18).
* Before entering the Promised Land God asked Joshua to tell the people
that they have to be sanctified for three days before passing the Jordan River.
IV. Continuos ascent in the narrow and hard way of virtues
The Lord asked the people to go to Pi Hahitoth (Exod.
14:1), which means the &winding ascent.&
Perhaps you used to think that the way which God shows would be
level and easy and certainly would involve no difficulty or labor. It is an ascent and a
winding ascent. For it is not a downhill way on which one strives towards virtue, but it
is ascended and it is ascended with great difficulty. Hear also the Lord saying in the
Gospel how &straight and narrow is the way which leads to life& (Matt. 7:14) .
V. Facing bitter trials and troubles
The following stage in the spiritual life is reached when the soul
embarks on its passage through the period of a kind of purgation. This stage, with its
trials and its occasional flashes of light, is figuratively represented by the crossing of
the Red Sea, and approaching the &Bitter Waters&: it is a hard
trial to cross the sea with its storms, and to hear the noise and booming of the furious
waves, but if we follow Moses, the Law of God, we shall cross the sea with dry feet. As
for the &Bitter Waters,& we must not be afraid of these:
If you enter upon the path of virtue, do not refuse to approach the
bitter waters.
Origen explains how the children of God can walk on dry ground in the
midst of the sea, attaining victory over the waters of sins and lusts, while the wicked
people sink like lead in the mighty waters (Exod. 15:10).
It can happen that marching in the midst of sinners the liquid of
it can happen that no wave of lust sprinkle you as you pass through
this world, that no surge of desire strike you.
Origen also comments on the first hymn which the people sang after
their victory (Exod. 15), saying &It is the custom of the saints to offer a
hymn of thanks to God when an adversary is conquered.&
How can we face the bitterness of the commandments of the Law and that
of temptations and troubles?
Origen answers, that there is a need of the wisdom of Christ which
is declared through the wood of the Cross, as it happened in Marah (Exod. 15:23-25)
If God shows a tree which is thrown into this bitterness so that the
&water& of the Law becomes &sweet,& they can drink from it...
The tree of the wisdom of Christ has been thrown into the Law..., then
the water of Mara is made sweet and the bitterness of the letter of the Law is changed
into the sweetness of spiritual understanding and then the people of God can drink...
Whence it is established that if anyone without &the tree of
life,& that is without the mystery of the cross, without faith in Christ, without
spiritual understanding should wish to drink from the letter of the Law, he will die from
too much bitterness.
VI. Arriving to the Desert of Sin (= Vision and Temptation)
They journeyed from Elim and came to the desert of Sin (Exod.
16:1), which name signifies &bush& and &temptation;& the
bush is the vision of God, but visions are not unaccompanied by temptation. The soul comes
to the desert of Sin. The word means both &vision& and &temptation&.
And there are in fact, Origen says, &visions which are also temptations, for
sometimes the wicked angel &transforms himself into an angel of light& (2 Cor.
For sometimes the angel of darkness transforms himself into an angel
watchful attention is therefore necessary in order to discern the different
visions. Thus Joshua, seeing a Vision and knowing that it might be a temptation, said to
the one who appeared to him &Are you a friend or a foe?& In the same way the
soul which makes progress when she begins to discern between visions, shows that she is
truly spiritual if she always knows how to discern them. That is why amongst the spiritual
gifts is included that of the discernment of spirits.
Where a storm blows, it can not shake the building which is
established on a rock, but it reveals the weakness of the building’s stones which is
built on the sand.
The Christian pilgrim must choose the narrow and straitened road that
leads to his destiny. His travel is in winter where there is hardship and persecution.
All the blessed will first be obliged to travel the narrow and hard
way in winter's storm (Matt. 7:14) to show what knowledge he had acquired for guiding his
life, so that afterwards they will realize the words of the Song of Songs to the bride
when she has safely passed through the winter. For she says, &My beloved answers and
says to me, &Arise and come away, my love, my fair one, for lo, the winter
is passed, the rain is over and gone& Songs 2:10-11... And after the winter is past
and the rain is over and gone, the flowers will appear that are planted in the house of
the Lord and flourish in the courts of our God (Ps. 92:13).
Moreover, when the soul sets out from Egypt of this life to go to
the promised land, she necessarily goes by certain roads.. and observes certain stages
that were made ready with the Father from the beginning... Who will be found worthy and so
understanding of the divine mysteries that he can describe the stages of that journey and
ascent of the soul and explain either the toils or the rest of each different place? For
how will he explain that after the first and second stages Pharaoh is still in pursuit?...
VII. Passing from Sin (Temptation) to Dophkah (Num. 33: 12; Dophkah
means Health)
The next stages are taken as relating to the soul’s recovery of
health and the destruction of concupiscence. Now that the soul is cured and her strength
restored, she begins to enter the specifically mystical region. That brings us to the
knowledge (gnosis), the object of which is the knowledge of the things of God. Yet
the fact that the soul has reached these heights does not mean that she escapes
temptation.
Temptations are given her to guard her and keep her safe
Dophka signifies health. There are many illnesses of the soul. Avarice
is a malady,
then there are pride, anger, boasting, fear,
inconstancy, pusillanimity and all the others. When, O Lord Jesus, will You cure me from
all my maladies? When shall I be able to say &O my soul, bless the Lord, who cures
all your diseases?& When shall I also be able to establish myself in Raphaca, in
VIII. Arriving to Rephidim (meaning &sound judgment&)
The man has attained soundness of judgment who rightly departs
from temptation and whom temptation renders approved. For in the day of judgment he will
be sound, and soundness will be with him who has not been wounded by temptation, as it is
written in the Apocalypse, &But to him who has overcome I will give of the tree of
life which is in the paradise of my God.& (Rev. 2:7).
For the first time the people enter in a war against another nation
&Amalek.& Victory had been realized by the shadow of the cross, for Moses lifted
his hands up while he was on the top of the hill. Our Lord Jesus lifted His hands up,
overcoming all nations through His love.
Jesus had been exalted on the Cross and was about to embrace the
whole earth with His arms.
IX. Respecting the wisdom of others, even if they are pagans.
Origen admires Moses who was full of God and spoke with God face to
face but he did not despise the counsel of Jethro (Exod. 18).
Moses who was meek above all men (Num. 12:3), accepted the counsel
of a lower man both that he might give a model of humility to the leaders of people and
represent an image of the future mystery. For he knew that at some future time the
Gentiles would offer good counsel with Moses, that they would bring a good and spiritual
understanding to the Law of God.
X. Receiving the Law of God on Sinai
Through this divine trip we receive the Law of God on Sinai, &when
the soul has become able to receive the divine secrets and the heavenly visions.&
Next comes the grave of lusts, then the open spaces of perfection and beatitude.
Notice well, O pilgrim, the law of your progress: when you have
buried and mortified the concupiscence of the flesh, you will arrive at the wide open
spaces of beatitude. Thence you pass on to Rathma and Pharan Rathma signifies
&& Pharan &visible mouth.& The soul has to grow
that it be no longer importuned by the flesh, and that it may have consummated visions and
grasp the perfect knowledge of things, that is, the causes of the Incarnation of the Word
of God, that it may understand more fully and more deeply the reasons of his
dispensations.
XI. Last station of perfection (Promised Land)
Finally, after further stages, the soul arrives to its destiny.
When the soul has passed through all these virtues and reached the
summit of perfection, it leaves this world and goes away, as was written of Henoch
&He was found no more, for God took him.& Such a man seems still to live in this
wo and yet he is no longer to be found. Where is he no longer found?
In any worldly action, in any carnal thing, in any matter of vanity. For God has taken him
away from all these, and has established him in the region of virtues. The final stage is
in the west, in the land of Moab, opposite the Jordan For all this journey has no other
end than to lead us to the river of God, to bring us to the flowing stream of wisdom, to
bathe us in the waters of divine knowledge, so that, being purified by all these trials,
we may be able to enter into the promised land.
Origen explains that through love the soul ascends on the mountain of
Beauty, and realizes her journey. The longing of the soul for God is like the longing of
Israel for the promised land. It is a yearning for Paradise and when purified allows the
soul to pass the flaming swords of the cherubim and gain access to the tree of life. Or it
is the pilgrim's desire for his true city, the heavenly Jerusalem.
Origen explains that this journey is realized by the divine grace and
in the company of Christ who strengthen the soul in her travel, at the same time it needs
the courage and endurance of the soul's believer.
2. THE GROWTH TO MATURITY
Believers are called to participate in the divine journey, so that
their souls might leave Raamses and enter the Promised Land, or they attain a kind of
maturity. Their souls grow from spiritual childhood to spiritual manhood.
(It is possible to be a child in the outer man but a man in the inner).
Such was Jeremiah, who already possessed grace from God when he was still physically in
the age of childhood.
Origen explains the need of the believer’s soul for spiritual
food to grow up to maturity. He arranges these foods in a hierarchical order:
a. &Milk& by which the babes in Christ are nourished (Heb.
b. &Vegetables& (Romans 14:2ff) for the weak.
c. &Solid food& (Heb. 5:12-14) for the mature or perfect.
All these different foods are to be equated with the Word of God (John
6:32-33), who accommodates his nourishing revelation to the condition of the one receiving
It. This is how we receive our &daily& bread, which strengthens us to grow to
maturity, and to become in the likeness of Christ.
The true bread is that which nourishes the true man, the man created
after the image of God, and through which he who is nourished by it is made to the image
of Him that created Him. What is more nourishing for the soul than the Word? And what is
more precious for the mind of him that understands it than the Wisdom of God? And what is
in better accord with rational nature than Truth?
Our responsibility for seeking the right food is never forgotten, but
Origen's emphasis is upon God's gift and his providential guidance of our growth towards
perfection.
It must be emphasized that Origen does not mean to distinguish
different natures of Christians, as the Gnostics did. On the contrary, all are destined
for perfection and maturity. But Origen realizes that this growth to perfection can not be
accomplished for most Christians within the confines of this present life. Growth
continues after this life and before the apokatastasis during which the simple are
enabled to grow until they can receive solid food.
This concept of spiritual progress and of its stages has been set forth
above according to Homily 27 of the Book of Numbers, because it is here that we
best see it as a whole and in its details. But it is mentioned also very often in Origen's
works. Some historians make this a matter for criticism. For St. Paul, they say, what
appears in the moral life of a Christian is mainly the rupture with the past, accomplished
for Origen, on the contrary, it is a progressive
development, a gradual ascent by which we successively climb the degrees of the perfect
Lebreton explains the difference between St. Paul’s doctrine and
Origen’s in the following points:
a. It is noteworthy that St. Paul himself also indicates the various
stages of the Christian life, for instance in I Cor. 3:1-2, Gal. 4:19.
b. Moreover, the readers of the epistles of St. Paul were just emerging
they still retained a painful memory of the darkness in which they had so
long lived, and the joy of the wonderful light which had suddenly shone upon them.
Origen's hearers, on the other hand, had for the most part been Christians for a long
time. They were already children of light, and they were bound to live as such, having no
more darkness, but being wholly transparent and shining forth with the light of Christ.
c. There is another contrast, which is deeper and more instructive. If
we compare the doctrine of Origen with the speculative teaching of the Gnostics, we are
the better able to realize their character by the contrast between them. One of the
fundamental dogmas of Gnosticism is the essential distinction between the different races
of men, the hylicals, the psychicals, and the pneumaticals: by natural necessity a man
belongs to one of these classes, and it would be in vain to endeavor to change it. In
Origen, the degrees of religious knowledge are certainly far removed from each other, but
there is no a the whole effort of the preacher is aimed at leading
Christians on to the highest union with God, for all God's children can and should aspire
3. STRUGGLING IN A SPIRITUAL BATTLE
The pilgrim soul on its journey encounters war and must be ready for
it. His comment of the arrival of the Jews to Sochoth (Num. 33) is:
The first progress of the soul is to be taken away from earthly
agitation and to learn that she must dwell in tents (for Sochoth is interpreted
&tents) like a wanderer, so that she can be, as it were, ready for battle and meet
those who lie in wait for her unhindered and free.
Life is a battle in which are engaged the soldiers of God, and the
soldiers of Satan. No neutrality is possible: &Every man endowed with reason is
either a child of God or
for either he commits sin or he does not
there is no middle course. If he sins, if he does not sin,
he is of God.&
Through the believer's spiritual struggle against bodily lusts he
expects temptations and he must acknowledge their advantages. Growth is a painful process,
and that temptation and struggle never leave us until we have attained the maturity of
perfection. He sees that &Sin& (Num. 33:36) means temptation, and that
there is no other way of embarking on our journey to the Promised land except passing
through it. For Origen a temptation is as a testing of gold in fire. It is also a
providential process by which we are fashioned into what we should be. God is a divine
goldsmith who brings us as vessels to the fire, strikes us with His hammers into an object
of beauty suitable for his grandeur.
Origen says that there are two kinds of spiritual struggles:
I. A struggle of the saints, such as St. Paul and the
Ephesians, as it is said, &For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly
places& (Eph. 6:12).
II. A struggle of those who are weaker and have their own
they wrestle against flesh and blood, for they are surrounded with vices and
corporeal lusts. Their struggle is through their body’s senses. The five kings who
fought with the Gibeonites (Jos 9:1) are symbols of the war through the senses.
It is much better that the sinner should be in torment than that his
mind should be at ease. &I wish to God I could feel a fire scorching my heart and
burning my bones [cf. Jer. 20:. 9] the minute I committed any sin or said anything I
deserved to be blamed for.&
Origen and Gregory concentrate on the gradual development of the human
soul, which is freed from bondage to earthly delights and rises to union with God.
Rown A. Greer says,
The journey, the growth to maturity, and the warfare or contest are all
dependent on the freedom of the Christian. But as has been suggested, they are also placed
within the context of God’s providence, which continually trains our freedom. Christ
accompanies the Christian on his journey, feeds him with true bread, and assists him in
his struggle. Moreover, providence assists the Christian through the saints, both departed
and present and through the angels. The Christian life is thereby given a wider setting...
If our warfare is against Satan and his hosts, we have spiritual powers
for good on our side so that the conflict is not unequal.
POSITIVE ATTITUDE OF STRUGGLES
Our struggle has two aspects: negative and positive. For we have
not only to leave evil (negative) but also to do what is good (positive).
Origen explains how Joshua conquered the pagan cities not by the aim of
destroying them, but of sanctifying them.
1. For example one of these cities was &Libnah& (Num.
33:21) which means &white.& Origen says that these are two kinds of
&white,& the white of leprosy and the white light. The city was white because it
was suffering from the leprosy of the pagan kings. Joshua destroyed this whiteness to
grant it the whiteness of light under his reign.
2. The same thing happened to &Lachish& (Jos. 10:32)
which means &way.& It was the way of the evildoers which has to be destroyed
(Ps. 1:6) and through Joshua because it was the right way (Ps. 107:7). Lachish was the way
of the evildoers, after it was conquered and robbed it was established anew as a right
way, under the reign of Israel.
3. Also &Habron& which means &marriage. &
The soul married at first the Devil as an evil husband. After the
death of this congest husband and her freedom of his rule she married the Man of
Righteousness, the legal husband of whom the apostle Paul says, & For I have
betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ& (2
Cor. 11:2) .
4. Origen says that the first war of the Word is uprooting the evil
which the Father did not plant, and burning it. The second work is to plant what is good
in the souls of the believers every day.
(Christ) uproots the auger and plants calmness, uproots pride and
plants humbleness, uproots the defilement’s and plants chastity, uproots ignorance
and plants knowledge...
GRACE AND SPIRITUAL STRUGGLING
It is the journey of the soul under the guidance of divine grace which
grants her zeal for struggling against evil and practising the good life, granting her
God’s grace is not given to those who lack zeal in the cause of
good, nor can human nature achieve virtue without help from above.
For he who has achieved virtue from his toil and sweat receives an
addition from God: for example, when a man has achieved faith by the exercise of his own
free will, who will be granted a grace-gift of faith [I Cor. 12:9], and (in sum) a man who
has improved some one of his natural resources by care and attention will be granted what
is still lacking from God.
STRUGGLING WITHOUT DESPAIR
Origen compares the rise of the fallen Christian to the splendid
display of power of a combatant in the public games who had the misfortune to fall first
but who arose and with renewed energy won over his adversary. Our combat, he continues, is
much the same. If one of us has had the misfortune to fall into sin, one must not give up
all hope, because
it is possible for one to regain one’s composure, and to
shudder at the evil, whi and furthermore, it is possible not only to
restrain oneself, but also to satisfy God, in tears and lamentations... If you should see
that someone has fallen into some sin, and that after his fall he is in despair about his
conversion, repeating, as he does: how can I be saved, I who have fallen? There is no
lo my sins hinder me. How can I even dare to approach the Lord? How
can I return to the Church?... Let him not remain on the ground after his fall. Let him
but rather let him arise and amend his fault. Let him wipe out the sin
by the satisfaction of his penance.
But if anyone returns to his conscience, I do not know if we are able
to excuse some member of the body which was not in need of fire. And since the prophet was
indeed clean from all things, therefore, he deserved that &one of the seraphim be
sent to him & (Cf. Isa 6.6), who would purify only his lips. But I am afraid that we
merit fire not only for individual members but for the whole body. For when our eyes lust
either through illicit passions or through devilish spectacles what else do they gather
for themselves except fire? When our ears are not turned from hearing vain and derogatory
things of neighbors, when our hands are by no means restrained from murder and from
robberies and from plundering, when our &feet are swift to shed blood,& (Cf. Ps
13.3.) and when we hand over our body not to the Lord but to fornication, what else do we
hand over &into Gehenna& (Cf. Matt 5.29.) except our whole body?
SPIRITUAL LIFE
FESTIVAL AND JOYFUL LIFE
Origen speaks of spiritual life as a hard and dangerous trip of the
soul and as a continuos battle, but its atmosphere is heavenly, for even through struggle
a believer practices the fellowship with Christ, acknowledging the dwelling of the Holy
Spirit within himself, attaining the knowledge of the mysteries of the Father. His life
becomes a festival and Sabbatical day.
1. PRACTISING HEAVENLY LIFE
The prophet says, &You brought over a vine from E you
drove out nations and planted it. You made a pa you planted its roots
and it filled the earth. Its shade covered the mountains and its branches the cedars of
God.&(Cf. Ps. 79.9-11.)
Do you perceive now how God plants and where he plants? He does not
plant in the valleys, but on the mountains in high and lofty places. He does not wish to
place again in lowly places those whom he led out of Egypt, whom he led from the world to
faith, but he wishes their mode of life to be uplifted. He wishes us to dwell in the
mountains, but also in these very mountains no less does he not wish us to crawl all over
the ground, nor does he wish further that his vine have its fruit cast down to the ground,
but he wishes its shoots to be led upwards, to be placed aloft. He wishes that there be
vine branches not in just any lowly trees, but in the loftiest and highest cedars of God.
I think the &cedars of God& are the prophets and apostles. If we are joined to
them as the vine which &God brought over from Egypt& and our shoots are spread
along their branches and, resting on them, we become like vine branches bound to one
another by bonds of love, we shall doubtless produce very much fruit. For &every tree
which does not produce fruit is cut down and cast into the fire&(Luke 3:10).
It is not because of the place where he dwells, but because of his
dispositions, that he who is still on earth has his citizenship in heaven and lays up
treasures in heaven (Phil. 3:20; Matt. 6:20f.), Having his heart in heaven and bearing the
image of the Heavenly One (1 Cor. 15:49), he is no longer of the earth nor of the lower
world (John 3;31; 8:23;18:36), but of heaven and the heavenly world that is better than
It says, &He went up to the higher place to pray and he saw the
heavens open& (Acts 10:9, 11). Does it not yet appear to you that Peter had gone up
&to the higher,& not only in the body but also in mind and spirit? It says,
&he saw the heaven open and a certain vessel descending to the earth like a sheet in
which were all quadrupeds, reptiles, and fowls of the sky. And he heard a voice saying to
him, ‘Arise, Peter, kill and eat’ (Acts 10:11-13).
What happens after this? &Go,& the text says, &into the
high land, to one of the mountains which I shall show you, and there you shall offer him
for an holocaust& (Gen. 22.2)... He is sent, therefore, &into the high
land& and the high land is not sufficient for a patriarch about to accomplish so
great a work for the Lord, but he is also ordered to ascend a mountain, of course that,
exalted by faith, he might abandon earthly things and ascend to things above
Believers attain this heavenly life through the work of the cross.
For Christ, &through His blood has made peace with things on
earth and things in heaven& (Col. 1:20) so that the earthly might have fellowship
with the heavenly.
Just as the sun and the moon are said to be the great lights in the
firmament of heaven, so also are Christ and the Church in us. But since God also placed
stars in the firmament, let us see what are also stars in us, that is, in the heaven of
our heart.
Origen comments on the words & ...divides the water which is above
heaven from the water which is below heaven& Gen. 1:7, saying,
Therefore, by participation in that celestial water which is said to
be above the heavens, each of the faithful becomes heavenly, that is, when he applies his
mind to lofty and exalted things, thinking nothing about the earth but totally about
heavenly things, &seeking the things which are above, where Christ is at the right
hand of the Father& (Col. 3:1). For then he also will be considered worthy of that
praise from God which is written here when the text says: &And God saw that it was
good& (Gen. 1:8).
2. SPIRITUAL LIFE AS A FESTIVAL LIFE
St. Clement, as we have seen, considers the Christian life as an
unceasing feast, asking us: &holding festival... in our whole life.& To him the
true Gnostic attains the new life in Christ as a Festival. Origen has the
same idea, for to him the Christian celebrates the Passover both at Eastertime as a
memorial of Christ's death, and at all times by feasting with the unleavened bread
of sincerity and truth and the bitter herbs of sorrow and repentance. His life is a
Paschal or unceasing feast, full of spiritual joy through repentance.
Tell me, you who come to church only on festive days, are the other
days not festive days? Are they not the Lord’s days?
For Origen, &Every day is the Lord’s Day... therefore
Christians eat the flesh of the L they consume each day the flesh of the Word,
for Christ our Passover has been scarified (1 Cor. 5:7).&
3. SPIRITUAL LIFE AS A JOYFUL LIFE
Origen comments on the words of the Psalmist: &Blessed are the
people who know the joyful sound& (Ps. 89: 15), saying:
He does not say: &Blessed are the people who practise
righteousness,& or &who have the knowledge of heaven, earth and stars,& but
&who know the joyful sound!& Sometimes the fear of God grants man a joy...
Here blessedness is presented in abundance, why? For all the people
participate in it, and all know the companionship in joyful sound!
Isaac, scripture says, &grew& and became strong, that is,
Abraham’s joy grew as he looked not at those things &which are seen, but at the
things which are not seen.& (Cf. 2 Cor. 4:18) For Abraham did not rejoice about
present things nor about the riches of the world and the activities of age. But do you
wish to hear why Abraham rejoiced? Hear the Lord saying to the Jews: &Abraham your
father desired to see my day, and he saw it and was glad& (John 8:56) in this way,
therefore, &Isaac grew&; (Cf. Gen. 21:8) that vision of Abraham, in which he saw
the day of Christ, and the hope which is in Christ were increasing his joys. And would
that you too might be made Isaac and be a joy to your mother the church
4. SPIRITUAL LIFE AS A SABBATICAL LIFE
In his Contra Celsus, Origen states that a Christian’s soul
has its true rest (Sabbath), in the contemplation of divine things, and thus she examines
the Sabbath of eternity. In other words, as God has His rest on the seventh day, not in
terms of inactivity, but in terms of contemplating in His works which He had done, so the
believer’s life becomes Sabbatical, not by abstention from good works, but by
contemplation on God, His works, and His heavenly glory.
Everyone... who lives in Christ lives ever on the Sabbath: and rests
in peace from evil works, but does the works of righteousness without ceasing. But many
who have the name of Christ but not His grace, live in sabbatical holiday from good works
and do bad ones.
CHRISTIAN VIRTUES
JESUS CHRIST IS OUR VIRTUE
Virtue according to Origen is to be one with Christ, for He is the
Virtue that fills Him. He is the Justice, Wisdom, Truth. He who practices virtue shares in
the divine nature.
To seek Jesus is the same as to seek the Word, Wisdom, Justice,
Truth, and the almighty power of God, as Christ is all these.
I think, therefore, that Sara, which means prince or one who governs
empires, represents arete, which is the virtue of the soul. This virtue,
then, is joined to and clings to a wise and faithful man, even as that wise man who said
of wisdom: &I have desired to take her for my spouse.& (Wis 8.2.) For this
reason, therefore, God says to Abraham: &In all that Sara has said to you, hearken to
her voice.& (Gen. 21.12.) This saying, at any rate, is not appropriate to physical
marriage, since that well known statement was revealed from heaven which says to the woman
of the man: &In him shall be your refuge (This rendering is based on the LXX
apostrophe. Rufinus’ text has conversion.) and he shall have dominion over you.&
(Gen. 3.16.) If, therefore, the husband is said to be lord of his wife, how is it said
again to the man: &In all that Sara has said to you, hearken to her voice&?
(Gen. 21.12.) If anyone, therefore, has married virtue, let him hearken to her voice in
all which she shall counsel him.
And indeed the Scripture designates the progress of the saints
figuratively by marriages. Whence also you can, if you wish, be a husband of marriages of
this kind. For example, if you freely practice hospitality, you will appear to have taken
her as your wife. If you shall add to this care of the poor, you will appear to have
obtained a second wife. But if you should also join patience to yourself and gentleness
and the other virtues, you will appear to have taken as many wives as the virtues you
Just as the Savior is Righteousness, Truth and Sanctification in
person, even so is He &endurance&(Jer. 17:3 LXX) in Person. It is impossible to
be righteous or holy without Christ: and impossible to &endure& unless one
possesses Him. For He is the ‘endurance& of Israel.
You are Righteousness, we have followed You as Righteousness: and in
the same way as Sanctification, Wisdom, Peace, Truth, the Way leading to God, the true
GOD, THE SOURCE OF VIRTUES
God is the source of our virtues, which grow in us gradually. No
virtue, no perseverance, is immune to the possibility of change unless it is of Christ,
whose human soul chose the good without any resort to that libertas indifferentiae
which would have confronted Him with a choice between good and evil. This is true for men,
for angels, for every creature. Creatures are divine in that degree only in which God is
present within them, and, &in the absence of divine Wisdom, they are counted as
nothing.& Their goodness does not belong to them, and only through trials and
afflictions do they obtain perseverance. We cannot speak of self-control or of
indifference to suffering without remembering that they come &from the grace of
God, to which are added the efforts of man.&
In God all these vi and they can never come to
Him or depart from Him, whereas men acquire them gradually and one by one.
In this way, then, through the ceaseless work on our behalf of the
Father, the Son and the holy Spirit, renewed at every stage of our progress, we may
perchance just succeed at last in beholding the h and when after many
struggles we have been able to attain to it we ought so to continue that no satiety of
that blessing but the more we partake of its blessedness, the more
may the loving desire for it deepen and increase within us, as ever our hearts grow in
fervor and eagerness to receive and hold fast the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
But, if Christ is Righteousness, he who has received righteousness
confesses not himself but C so also he who has found wisdom, by the very possession
of Wisdom, confesses Christ. And such a one indeed as, &with the heart believes unto
righteousness, and with the mouth makes confession unto salvation (Rom. 10:10),& and
bears testimony to the works of Christ, as making confession by all these things of Christ
before men, will be confessed by Him before His Father in heaven (Matt. 10:32). So also he
who has not denied himself but denied the Christ will experience the saying, &I also
will deny him (Matt. 10:33) .&
For perhaps also each of those who have been crucified with Christ puts
off from himself the principalities and the powers, and makes a show of them and triumphs
ov or rather, Christ does these things in them.
Therefore, the soul conceives from this seed of the word and the Word
forms a fetus in it until it brings forth a spirit of the fear of God. For so the souls of
the saints say through the prophet, &By your fear, Lord, we conceived in the womb and
brought forth in
we have made and brought forth in labor and gave
we have made the spirit of your salvation upon the earth& (Isa. 26:18). This
is the birth of the holy souls, these are holy unions which are
convenient and apt for the great high priest, Christ Jesus our Lord, &to whom is
glory and power forever and ever. Amen! (Cf. 1 Pet. 4:11; Rev.
But do you want me to show you from the Scriptures that trees or wood
are given the name of individual virtues, which we mentioned above? I turn to the most
wise Solomon as a witness when he said about wisdom, &The tree of life is for all who
embrace it& (Prov. 3:18). Therefore, if &wisdom is the tree of life, &
without a doubt, there is another tree of prudence, another of knowledge, and another of
justice. For logically it is not said that only wisdom, of all the virtues, was worthy to
be called &the tree of life& but that the other virtues by no means received
names of a similar sort. Therefore, &the trees of the field will give their
fruit& (Lev. 26:4).
(Paul in Romans 12) ties up with the gift of grace moral
precepts, to show that to Christians these too are given by the grace of God. For there
are many Gentiles whose moral standards are orderly and whose institutions are honorable,
who never ascribe the merit of these to God or confess that they received grace from H
they lay them to the credit of their own industry, or preen themselves on their masters
and legislators. But the apostle makes clear to us that everything that is good comes from
God and is given through the Holy Spirit (and Origen quotes James 1:17, I Cor 1:31) .
The truth may be that each virtue is a kingdom of heaven, and that all
together are the kingdom of the heavens. This would mean that the man who lives by the
virtues is already in the kingdom of the heavens, and (for example) that the saying
&repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand& (Matt. 3:2) has no temporal
reference, but a reference to actions and purpose. For Christ, who is each and every
virtue, has come to dwell with us and speaks-and therefore the &Kingdom of God&
is &within His disciples& and not &here or there& (Luke 17:21) .
If &a branch cannot bear fruit unless it abides in the vine,&
it is clear that the disciples of the Word, the spiritual branches of the true vine (the
Word), cannot bear the fruits of virtue unless they abide in the true vine, the Christ of
Virtue, by definition, is a spiritual battle, it is the activity by
which the soul, by divine grace, governs the
vice, an activity in
which the motions or passions of the body wrongfully gain control of the governing mind
and the servant becomes master.
Precepts are given to pay debts. But what we do over and above what
we owe we do not do by precept. For instance, virginity is not a payment of debt, nor is
it demanded by a precept, but it is offered over and above what is owed.
The verse says, &To those that love God all things collaborate
unto good.& The Christian must conform himself to the image of C the Christian
becomes Christ’s spirit when he has so attached himself to the Word and Wisdom of God
in all things that in no way is the image and likeness discolored. And thus if one wishes
to attain to the summit of perfection and beatitude one seeks after the likeness of
Christ’s image, the image of the Son of God.
Lack of God is never natural to any human soul. For the soul to
be re-established, it is enough that the light comes to it. Always the light can come
without harm or loss to itself, for it comes only in the measure of the needy soul’s
capacity to receive it. When it has once been received, it must be kept alive by holy
practices and by attendance at salutary instructions, for all around it there is the
darkness of evil thoughts affecting even the actions. This explains why the light is
wisdom first and justice afterward.
&There is work for those who dig the wells of living water,
that is, for those who teach the word of God to every soul and draw
from it its salutary fruit... Let us dig those wells that were within us and throw out the
earth that chokes them. We shall make the waters come forth again, even unto overflowing,
because the Word of God is within us.&
THE SANCTIFICATION OF THE SENSES
In the spiritual battle, man’s senses are sanctified, not by
destroying them as evil things, but destroying what is evil so that they might be directed
towards worshipping God, edification of the soul, and serving others.
Commenting on the five Amorite Kings who were executed by Joshua (Jos.
10:16-27), Origen says
This, in my opinion, means that the five carnal senses, after being
conquered by Jesus and deposing them from their denial of faith, and after the death of
sin in them as they become free from the servitude of sin, these senses become in the
service of the spirit in doing righteousness.
Thus Jerusalem who was ruled by a king who was not noble became ruled
by David the strong king and the wise Solomon.
Do you wish that I show you from the Scriptures how the devil opens
the mouth of men of this kind who speak against Christ? Note what has been written
about Judas, how it is reported that &Satan entered him,& (John 13.27.) and that
&the devil put it in his heart to betray Him.& (Cf. John 13.2.) He, therefore,
having received the money, opened his mouth that &he might confer with the leaders
and the Pharisees, how he might betray him.& (Cf. Luke 22.4.) Whence it seems to me
to be no small gift to perceive the mouth which the devil opens. Such a mouth and words
are not discerned without the gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, in the distributions of
spiritual gifts, it is also added that &discernment of spirits& is given to
certain people (Cf. 1 Cor 12.10.) It is a spiritual gift, therefore, by which the spirit
is discerned, as the Apostle says elsewhere, &Test the spirits, if they are from
God& (Cf. 1 John 4.1.)
But as God opens the mouth of the saints, so, I think, God also may
open the ears of the saints to hear the divine words. For thus Isaiah the prophet
says: &The Lord will open my ear that I may know when the word must be
spoken&(Cf. Is 50.4-5.) So also the Lord opens eyes, as &the Lord opened Agar's
eyes and she saw a well of living water& (Gen. 21:19). But also Eliseus the prophet
says: &`Open, O Lord, the eyes of the servant that he may see that there are more
with us than with the enemy.' And the Lord opened the eyes of the servant and behold, the
whole mountain was full of horses and chariots and heavenly helpers.&(Cf. 4 Kings
6.16-17.) For &the angel of the Lord encircles those who fear him and will deliver
them& (Ps. 33:8).
You see (Lev. 14:17) how by the last and highest purification
the ear is to be purified that the hearing may be Or at least since
the Lord in the gospel testifies that the hearts of sinners are besieged by &seven
demons, &the priest& appropriately &sprinkles seven times before the
Lord& in purification that the expulsion &of the seven evil spirits& from
the heart of a person purified may be shown by &the oil shaken seven times from the
THE INNER SENSES
Origen who believes in the world of the inner man as the true world,
concentrates on the inner senses. As the body has its sense by which it can acknowledge
what is visible and earthly, the soul also has its senses through which she can see God
and His heaven, hear Him, and keep in touch with Him.
And to these let us add five others which are the senses of the
inner man, through which either is made &pure in heart we see God& or &have
ears to hear& the things which Jesus teaches. Or, we take that &odor& about
which the Apostle says, &for we are the pleasing odor of Christ& (2 Cor. 2:15).
Or we even take that taste about which the prophet says, &Taste and see that the Lord
is sweet& (Ps. 33:9), or that touch which John mentions, &We have seen with our
eyes and have touched with our hand concerning the Word of Life& (1 John 1:1).
&But to all of these we add one more so that we may refer all these things to the one
God. And indeed, these things were spoken concerning the restoration of those things which
had been removed from the sanctuary by any fault.
HUNGER FOR THE WORD OF GOD
The believer whose soul desires her restoration as an icon of God, and
her return to God, is hungry for the word of God.
For the Word of God is adjusted to the needs of human souls and is
to be measured by the desire of him who enjoys it. It is like the bread which does not
change, but the taste of which depends on the hunger of him who eats it.
Here was Origen’s notion of the work of transformation, the labor
of love, where the Christian soul measures its own spiritual progress.
&I beseech you, therefore, be transformed (cf. Eph.
4:20-24, Rom. 12:1-2).
Resolve to learn that you can be transformed and put aside the form of
swine, which describes the impure soul, and the form of dog, which describes the person
who barks and howls and speaks abusively.
It is possible to be transformed (even) from serpents. For he wicked
person is addressed: &You serpent and brood of vipers!& (cf. Matt. 23:33).
If, then, we are willing to hear that it is in our power to be
transformed from serpents, from swine, from dogs, let us learn from the apostle the
transformation that depends on us. This is how he puts it &We all, with unveiled
face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into His likeness& (2 Cor.
If you were a barker and the Word molded you and changed you,
you were transformed from a dog to a human being.
If you were impure, and the Word touched your soul, and if you
offered yourself to be shaped by the Word, you were changed from a swine into a
human being.
If you were a wild beast, on hearing the Word which tames and
domesticates, which changed you by the will of the Word into a human being, you will no
longer be addressed: &You serpent and brood of vipers!& (cf. Matt. 23:33).
&When we neglect study, the truths that we already know lose
their appeal,& as the psalmist warns us.
In his commentary on the Psalms, he wrote to Ambrose in these terms:
&Under the pretense of seeking the knowledge of God, the
heretics rise against the church, bringing forward their works composed of numerous books
in which they claim to explain the Gospels and the apostolic writings. If I remain silent
and fail to put forward the true and real doctrines of Christ, they will then proceed to
conquer the greedy souls who, in default of healthy food, grasp at the filthy and
abominable foods that are forbidden... With regard to you, this was indeed your own
history. Unable to find masters capable of giving you the higher knowledge and captured by
an unenlightened and ignorant form of belief, you sought the love of Christ in opinions
you had formerly abandoned. But you subsequently renounced those opinions, by abjuring
them as soon as you made use of the intelligence which has been given to you. I speak thus
in order to defend those who know how to teach and to write. But if I must speak for
myself, I will confess that I am not perhaps such a man as God renders capable of being
His minister of the New Testament. I may be so according to the letter, but not according
to the spirit. So I have been guilty of presumption in devoting myself to the work of
scriptural exegesis.&
MEDITATING IN THE NEW AND OLD TESTAMENT
We must endeavor, therefore, in every way to gather in our heart,
&by giving heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching,& (1 Tim. 4:13) and by
&meditating in the Law of the Lord day and night,& (Ps. 1:2), not only the new
oracles of the Gospels and of the apostles and their Revelation, but also the old things
in the Law &which has the shadow of the good things to come& (Heb. 10:1), and in
the prophets who prophesied in accordance with them.
SPIRITUAL LOVE
May the way of the Lord be prepared in our hearts, for the heart
of man is so great and wide, as if it was the world.
Look to its greatness not into a bodily quantity, but in the power of
the mind which gives it the ability to embrace very great knowledge of the truth.
Then, let the hard way be prepared in your hearts through a suitable
life, and in good and perfect works, so this way will preserve your lives in
righteousness, and the words of the Lord enter into you without obstacle.
LOVE OF ENEMIES
As our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Love, is our Virtue, and our soul asks
Him to be transformed unto His icon, therefore we practice love to all creatures, except
the devil, for he alone is the true enemy of God and His children.
We don’t hate our persecutors as our enemies, but through love we
pray for them, knowing that the only enemy is the devil who urges men to be cruel.
If, then, you ever see your persecutor raging very much, know that
he is being urged on by a demon as his rider and, therefore, is fierce and cruel.
&And you will pursue your enemies& (Lev. 26:7). What
&enemies& except &the devil& himself &and his angels& (Cf.
Lev. 26:3) and evil spirits and &unclean demons& (Cf. Luke 4:33). We will pursue
them not only to drive them from ourselves but also from others whom they attack, if we
keep the divine precepts. It says, &You will pursue your enemies and they will fall
dead in your sight& (Lev. 26:7). If &God grinds Satan swiftly under our
feet& (Cf. Rom. 16:20),&the enemies will fall dead in our sight& (Cf. Lev.
HUMBLENESS
Henri de Lubac says,
He (Origen) wants us to humble ourselves deeply so that we may
deserve to hear the sweetness of His voice. He declares that all the good things which man
can expect and which God can give are summed up in Jesus. He praises those who contemplate
Christ and who remain bound to him &by a bond of tender affection,& and those
who prefer to put their trust in His words rather than in their own conscience. Even as
Origen smiles at Jesus’ childhood, so he suffers with Him the suffering and
humiliation of his Passion which he at times evokes with startling realism. He admires the
majesty of his silence. He also meditates on the first and from
Jesus’ submission to Joseph he learns that, no matter how great one may be, there is
no better thing than to live in humble submission. He announces that there is no true
Christian life in separation from the man who was the Christ and from Mary his mother. He
often speaks of &my Jesus,& &my Lord,& &my Savior.& This
personal touch had become so much a habit with him that he at times slipped into
introducing it even into his quotations from Scripture. It is a P but
Origen’s insistent usage makes something new of it, a sort of conquest of Christian
If you are not &humble and peaceful,& the grace of the Holy
Spirit cannot live within you, if you do not receive the divine words with fear. For the
Holy Spirit departs from the proud and stubborn and false soul.
HELPING WEAKER PERSONS
Note this, too, that Mary being the greater comes to Elisabeth,
who is the less, and the Son of God comes to the B which should encourage us to
render help without delay to those who are in a lower position, and to cultivate for
ourselves a moderate station.
Sobriety is the mother of all virtues just as, on the other
hand, drunkenness is the mother of all vices.
HOSPITALITY
He escapes the flames, he escapes the conflagration for this
reason alone: because he opened his house to strangers. Angels entered the hospitable
fire entered the houses closed to strangers.
ALMSGIVING
If, then, any one in our time who has the bag of the Church
speaks likes Judas on behalf of the poor, but takes away what is put therein, let there be
assigned to him the portion along with Judas who did these things.
OVERCOMING TEMPTATIONS
The Savior then compels the disciples to enter into the boat of
temptations and to go before Him to the other side, and through victory over them to go
beyond c but when they had come into the midst of the sea, and of the
waves in the temptations, and of the contrary winds which prevented them from going away
to the other side, they were not able, struggling as they were without Jesus, to overcome
the waves and the contrary wind and reach the other side. Wherefore the Logos, taking
compassion upon them who had done all that was in their power to reach the other side,
came to them walking upon the sea, which for Him had no waves or wind that was able to
oppose if H for it is not written, &He came to them walking upon the
waves,: but, && (Matt. 14:25).
Then when we see many difficulties besetting us, and with moderate
struggle we have swum through them to some extent, let us consider that our boat is in the
midst of the sea, distressed at that time by the waves which wish to shipwreck us
concerning faith or som but when we see the spirit of the evil one
striving against us, let us conceive that then the wind is contrary to us. When then in
such suffering we have spent three watches of the night - that is, of the darkness which
is in the temptations - striving nobly with all our might and watching ourselves so as not
to make shipwreck concerning the faith or some one of the virtues, - the first watch
against the father of darkness and wickedness, the second watch against his son &who
opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or any thing that is
worshipped& (2 Thess. 2:4), and the third watch against the spirit (The conception of
Origen seems to be that opposed to the Divine Trinity there is an evil trinity. Cf. book
12:20) that is opposed to the Holy Spirit, then we believe that when the fourth watch
impends, when &the night is far spent, and the day is at hand,& (Rom. 13:12) the
Son of God will come to us, that He may prepare the sea for us, walking upon it.
CONCEPT OF SINNING
What is the meaning of sinning in the mind of Origen?
1. As our virtues is Christ Himself, so lacking of the
fellowship with Christ and unity with the Father is sinning.
2. Virtue is restoring the nature of the soul to be the icon of the
Logos, and sinning is a lack of this icon.
3. Virtue is attributing the soul to God as one of His children,
and sinning is attributing to the devil. A soul who refuses her Father, and Heavenly
Groom, becomes widowed and desolate like Jerusalem. Such a soul readily becomes the prey
of its enemies. Indeed, its distress only adds to the strength of its foes. As progress in
virtue on the part of the soul weakens the devil and dissipates his power as the wind
carries away the dust in the road, so sin on the contrary encourages him and makes him
daring. He then hurls himself at the noblest part of the soul and despoils it. Thus
confusion takes the place of order in the life of the soul. My sins, says the sinner,
weigh heavily on my shoulders and my strength is gone. Sin takes possession of the soul
and rules it completely. The soul is thus held in bondage without ever being able to
realize commensurably its own desires or to satisfy them in any degree. Origen began to
view evil as boundless, and passion as a kind of infinity.
4. Virtue is attaining the enlightenment of our inner man by the
work of the Word of God, the Truth, who reveals the divine knowledge to His bride, and
sinning is ignorance which is realized by the devil who endeavors to destroy every divine
knowledge, so that we may be admitted to his kingdom of darkness.
Sin obscures the vision of God, but not entirely for all:
Certain reminiscences remain - knowledge, of whose primal source the soul is not aware.
Sins are harlotry and attack the virginity of Christ’s bride,
the soul, and even more, the Church.
BITTERNESS OF SINS
As sinning is a lack of fellowship with Christ, the sweetness of
the soul, the Nourisher, and Source of her freedom, therefore sin is very bitter. It is a
servitude to the severe devil, who strips her from all inner beauty and glory.
Truly all kinds of sins are bitter. There is nothing more bitter
than them, even if these sins have a kind of sweetness at first, as Solomon says...
On the contrary righteousness seems to be at first bitter, but at the
end it is more sweet then honey, when it produces the fruit of virtue.
How speedy is the banishment of the pleasures!
How its annihilation is very soon!
This which the sinners think that is remaining for good!
FIRE OF SINS
Origen distinguishes between the divine fire inflamed within us through
the word of God which enlightens our inner man, and that inflamed through sin which
destroys our inner beauty and goodness. On the first fire he says,
&The declaration of the Lord has set him on fire& (Cf. Ps.
118:140). And again in the gospel it was written, after the Lord spoke to Cleopas,
&Was not our heart burning within us when he opened the Scriptures to us?& (Luke
24:18, 32)... On the other fire he says, &This fire is not from the altar of
the Lord, but it is that which is called& an alien fire& and you heard a little
earlier that those who brought & a foreign fire before the Lord were destroyed&
(Cf. Lev. 16:1). You also burn when wrath f}