PG 11 · cols. 95–99

Origenes, Sententia de resurrectione

Editors' preface

ORIGENIS SENTENTIA DE RESURRECTIONE.

ORIGEN'S OPINION ON THE RESURRECTION.

Ex Hieronymi epistola 38, alias 61, ad Pammachium.

From Jerome's Letter 38, otherwise 61, to Pammachius.

Dicit Origenes in pluribus locis, et maxime in libro De resurrectione quarto, et in expositione primi psalmi, et in Stromatibus, duplicem errorem versari in Ecclesia: nostrorum et haereticorum; nos simplices et philosarcas dicere, quod eadem ossa et sanguis et caro, id est, vultus et membra, totiusque compago corporis resurgat in novissima

Origen says in many places, and especially in the fourth book On the Resurrection, and in the exposition of the first psalm, and in the Stromateis, that a twofold error is current in the Church, ours and the heretics'; that we, simple folk and lovers of the flesh, say that the same bones and blood and flesh, that is, the face and limbs and the whole framework of the body, rise again on the last

Editors' notes and page, col. 95

Footnotes

(87) ‹anchor: not visible on the page foot› · call in col 95

Luc. XVI, 27, 28.

Luke 16:27–28.

(printed under page 52)

(88) ‹anchor: angelorum instar futuros› · call in col 95

Marc. XII, 23.

Mark 12:23.

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(19) ‹anchor: not visible on the page foot› · call in col 95

E libro S. Methodii De resurrectione affert hoc Origenis fragmentum Photius in Biblioth. cod. 224. Sed e quonam Origenis libro illud necnon alterum sequens deprompserit Methodius, incertum est. Ut autem quid in eo sibi velit Adamantius possis assequi, vide quae de animarum statu post mortem docet lib. II contra Celsum, num. 60, et libro VII, num. 5; item adnotationes ad lib. I De principiis, cap. 1, num. 7.

Photius, in his Bibliotheca, codex 224, brings forward this fragment of Origen from St Methodius's book On the Resurrection. But from which book of Origen Methodius drew it, and the other that follows, is uncertain. To grasp what Adamantius means by it, see what he teaches about the state of souls after death in book 2 Against Celsus, no. 60, and in book 7, no. 5; also the notes on book 1 On First Principles, chapter 1, no. 7.

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Ἁπλουστέρων. Alias, ἁπλούστερον.

Ἁπλουστέρων ("of the simpler"). Another reading: ἁπλούστερον ("more simply").

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Ἀκριβεστέρων. Alias, ἀκριβέστερον.

Ἀκριβεστέρων ("of the more exact"). Another reading: ἀκριβέστερον ("more exactly").

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Ἀνάκλισιν. Alias, ἀνάκλησιν.

Ἀνάκλισιν ("reclining"). Another reading: ἀνάκλησιν ("recall").

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(23) ‹anchor: not visible on the page foot› · call in col 95

Ὅμοιος. Alias, ὁμοίως.

Ὅμοιος ("like"). Another reading: ὁμοίως ("likewise").

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(24) ‹anchor: πρὸ τῆς› · call in col 95

Πρὸ τῆς. Alias, περὶ τῆς.

Πρὸ τῆς ("before the"). Another reading: περὶ τῆς ("concerning the").

(printed under page 52)

(25) ‹anchor: σαρκῶν ὡσαύτως› · call in col 95

Σαρκῶν ὡσαύτως. Quod ait necesse esse ut in resurrectione carne nudemur, id intelligit de carne corruptibili et infirmitatibus adhuc obnoxia; neque enim futuri hominum in resurrectione status cum angelico comparationem omnino adaequatam esse voluit. Vide Monitum.

Σαρκῶν ὡσαύτως ("of flesh likewise"). When he says that we must be stripped of flesh in the resurrection, he means flesh that is corruptible and still subject to weaknesses; for he did not mean the comparison between the future state of men in the resurrection and that of the angels to be exact in every respect. See the Monitum.

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Page

running head: 95 FRAGMENTA
marginal letters: A 35 De Lazaro; B μοιος (in col. 96); C Ex Methodio,; D 36 Dicit Origenes
old-edition numerals: 35 before De Lazaro; 36 before Dicit Origenes
other: A-C (De Lazaro ... carne nudari. ») is facing Latin version of col. 96, not set; full-width title lines at top and before D cut off at right edge, not set; D (Dicit Origenes ...) is Latin only, no Greek printed
other: a full-width band stands across cols 95/96 in mid-page: the 4 paragraph(s) above it in col 96 are set here, after the 0 above it in col 95 (reading order, moved on receipt); the band itself (its title lines) is not set by the volunteer page: set it here, at the move, with full_width
other: the column opens with the end of the previous work (another unit); not set here: the unit begins at Dicit Origenes in pluribus locis
running head: 95 FRAGMENTA 96
marginal letters: D ‹Dicit Origenes in pluribus locis› (the D stands between the columns, beside this line and col 96's first line)
old-edition numerals: 36 before Dicit (bold, at the paragraph's start)

PG 11:96

die: scilicet ut pedibus ambulemus, operemur manibus, videamus oculis, auribus audiamus, circumferamusque ventrem insatiabilem, et stomachum cibos concoquentem; consequens autem esse, qui ista credamus dicere nos quod et comedendum nobis sit, et bibendum, digerenda stercora, effundendus humor, ducendae uxores, liberi procreandi.

day: namely, so that we may walk with feet, work with hands, see with eyes, hear with ears, and carry about an insatiable belly and a stomach that digests food; and that it follows that we who believe these things say that we must also eat and drink, void excrement, discharge fluid, take wives and beget children.

Editors' notes and page, col. 96

Page

running head: FRAGMENTA 96
marginal letters: A Περὶ τοῦ Λαζάρου; B μοιος (23) ἑώραται; C Ἐκ τῶν Μεθοδίου.; D die : scilicet ut
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: full-width title lines at top and before D cut off at left edge, not set; editors' matter: Εἶτα·, Ἐκ τῶν Μεθοδίου.; D (die : scilicet ...) is Latin only, no Greek printed
other: the 4 paragraph(s) of this column above the full-width band are set under col 95 (reading order, moved on receipt)
running head: 95 FRAGMENTA 96
marginal letters: D ‹die: scilicet ut pedibus› (the D between the columns, shared with col 95)
old-edition numerals: (none)

PG 11:97

Quo enim membra genitalia, si nuptiae non erunt? Quo dentes, si cibi non molendi sunt? Quo venter et cibi, si juxta Apostolum et hic et illi destruentur? ipso iterum clamante : « Caro et sanguis regnum Dei non possidebunt, neque corruptio incorruptionem. » Haec nos innocentes et rusticos asserit dicere. Haereticos vero, in quorum parte sunt Marcion, Apelles, Valentinus, Manes, nomen insaniae, penitus et carnis et corporis resurrectionem negare; et salutem tantum tribuere animae, frustraque nos dicere ad exemplum Domini resurrecturos, cum ipse quoque Dominus in phantasmate resurrexerit; et non solum resurrectio ejus, sed et ipsa nativitas τῷ δοκεῖν, id est putative, visa magis sit quam fuerit. Sibi autem utramque displicere sententiam, fugere se et nostrorum carnes, et haereticorum phantasmata : quia utraque pars in contrarium nimia sit; aliis idem volentibus se esse quod fuerunt; aliis resurrectionem corporum omnino denegantibus. « Quatuor, inquit, elementa sunt, philosophis quoque nota et medicis, de quibus omnes res et corpora humana compacta sunt, terra, aqua, aer et ignis. Terram in carnibus, aerem in halitu, aquam in humore, ignem in calore intelligi. Cum ergo anima caducum hoc frigidumque corpusculum Dei jussione dimiserit, paulatim omnia redire ad matrices suas substantias : carnes in terram relabi, halitum in aera misceri, humorem reverti ad abyssos, calorem ad aethera subvolare. Et quomodo si sextarium lactis et vini mittas in pelagus, velisque rursum separare quod mistum est : vinum quidem et lac quod miseras, non periere, non tamen posse quod fusum est separari; sic substantiam carnis et sanguinis non perire quidem in originalibus materiis, non tamen in antiquam redire compaginem, nec posse ex toto eadem esse quae fuerint. Cum autem ista dicantur, soliditas carnium, sanguinis liquor, crassitudo nervorum, venarumque perplexio et ossium durities denegatur. Alia ratione resurrectionem corporum confitemur eorum quae in sepulcris posita sunt, dilapsaque in cineres : Pauli Pauli, et Petri Petri, et singula singulorum; neque enim fas est ut in aliis corporibus animae peccaverint, in aliis torqueantur; nec justi judicis alia corpora pro Christo sanguinem fundere, et alia coronari. » Quis haec audiens resurrectionem carnis eum negare putet? « Est, inquit, singulis seminibus ratio quaedam a Deo artifice insita, quae futuras materias in medullae principiis tenet. Et quomodo tanta arboris magnitudo, truncus, rami, poma, folia non videntur in semine, sunt tamen in ratione seminis, quam Graeci σπερματισμὸν vocant; et in grano frumenti est intrinsecus, vel medulla, vel venula, quae cum in terra fuerit dissoluta, trahit ad se vicinas materias, et in stipulam, folia, aristasque consurgit; aliudque moritur, aliud resurgit; neque

For to what purpose are genital organs, if there will be no marriages? To what purpose teeth, if foods are not to be ground? To what purpose belly and foods, if according to the Apostle both it and they will be destroyed (1 Cor. 6:13), while he cries out again: "Flesh and blood shall not possess the kingdom of God, neither shall corruption possess incorruption"? (1 Cor. 15:50) These things he asserts that we, innocent and rustic folk, say. Whereas the heretics, on whose side are Marcion, Apelles, Valentinus, and Manes—a name of madness—utterly deny the resurrection both of the flesh and of the body, and attribute salvation to the soul alone, and say that in vain do we affirm that we shall rise after the example of the Lord, since the Lord Himself also rose in a phantom, and not only His resurrection, but His very birth also was τῷ δοκεῖν, that is, in appearance, seemed rather than really was. That to himself, however, both opinions are displeasing, and that he shuns both the flesh of our people and the phantoms of the heretics, because each party goes to an extreme in the opposite direction, some wishing to be the same thing that they were, others altogether denying the resurrection of bodies. "There are four elements," he says, "known also to philosophers and physicians, out of which all things and human bodies are compacted: earth, water, air, and fire. Earth is understood in the flesh, air in the breath, water in the moisture, fire in the heat. When, therefore, at God's command the soul has let go this frail and cold little body, little by little all things return to their original substances: the flesh slips back into earth, the breath is mingled into air, the moisture returns to the depths, the heat flies up to the ether. And just as if you were to cast a pint of milk and of wine into the sea, and wished to separate again what was mixed, the wine indeed and the milk which you had cast in have not perished, yet what has been poured out cannot be separated; so the substance of flesh and blood does not indeed perish in the original elements, yet does not return into its ancient frame, nor can they be altogether the same things that they were. Yet when these things are said, the solidity of the flesh, the fluidity of the blood, the thickness of the sinews, the intertwining of the veins, and the hardness of the bones are denied. In another way we confess the resurrection of the bodies of those things which have been laid in sepulchres and have fallen away into ashes: Paul's as Paul's, and Peter's as Peter's, and each single one's as each single one's; for neither is it right that souls should have sinned in one set of bodies and be tormented in another, nor does it belong to a just judge that one set of bodies should shed blood for Christ and another be crowned." Who, hearing these things, would suppose that he denies the resurrection of the flesh? "There is," he says, "implanted by God the Artificer in each single seed a certain principle, which holds the future materials in the beginnings of the marrow. And just as so great a size of a tree, trunk, branches, fruits, and leaves are not seen in the seed, yet are in the principle of the seed, which the Greeks call σπερματισμὸν; and in a grain of wheat there is inwardly either a marrow or a little vein, which when it has been dissolved in the earth draws to itself the neighbouring materials, and rises up into stalk, leaves, and ears; and one thing dies, another rises; for neither

Editors' notes and page, col. 97

Footnotes

(59) ‹anchor: not visible on the page foot› · call in col 97 or 98 (not visible on the page foot)

I Cor. XV, 50.

1 Corinthians 15:50.

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(60) ‹anchor: not visible on the page foot› · call in col 97 or 98 (not visible on the page foot)

I Cor. XV, 51.

1 Corinthians 15:51.

(printed under page 53)

Page

running head: 97 EX LIBRIS ORIGENIS DE RE
marginal letters: A Quo enim membra; B displicere sententiam,; C æthera subvolare.; D aliis torqueantur;
old-edition numerals: (none)
other: Latin only, no Greek printed

PG 11:98

enim in grano tritici, radices, culmus, folia, aristae, paleae sunt dissolutae : sic et in ratione humanorum corporum manent quaedam surgendi antiqua principia, et quasi ἐντεριώνη, id est seminarium mortuorum, sinu terrae confovetur. Cum autem judicii dies advenerit, et in voce archangeli et in novissima tuba tremuerit terra, movebuntur statim semina, et in puncto horae mortuos germinabunt; non tamen easdem carnes, nec in his formis restituent quae fuerunt. Vis scire verum esse quod dicimus, audi Apostolum : « Sed dicit aliquis, Quomodo resurgent mortui? quo autem corpore venient? Insipiens, quod tu seminas, non corpus quod futurum est seminas, sed nudum granum, ut putatricici, » vitis et arboris. Et quia de grano tritici ac semente arborum ex parte jam diximus, nunc de acino vinacii disseramus. Granum parvum est, ita ut vix duobus digitulis teneri possit. Ubi sunt radices? ubi radicum et trunci et propaginum tortuosa perplexio? ubi pampinorum umbracula, et uvarum pulchritudo, futura vina parturiens? Aridum est quod tenetur, et pene vix cernitur : sed in sicco illo grano potentia Dei et occulta ratione sementis, spumantia musta fundentur. Haec ligno tribuis, quod periturum est; sic ornatur, quod mansurum non est, nec pristinam recipiet vilitatem; et vis rursus ossa, sanguinem, membra; ut crescentibus capillis tonsore egeas, nasus pituitas digerat, incrementa unguium resecanda sint; ut per inferiores partes vel stercora vel libidines effluant? si affers istas ineptias rusticorum, et carnis, in qua Deo placere non possumus, quasi inimicae oblivisceris et resurrectionis mortuorum : « Seminatur in corruptione, surget in incorruptione. Seminatur in contumelia, surget in gloria. Seminatur in infirmitate, surget in virtute. Seminatur corpus animale, surget corpus spirituale. » Nunc oculis videmus, auribus audimus, manibus agimus, pedibus ambulamus : in illo autem corpore spirituali toti videbimus, toti audiemus, toti operabimur, toti ambulabimus : et « transfigurabit Dominus corpus humilitatis nostrae, conforme corpori suae gloriae. » Quando dixit, « transfigurabit, » id est μετασχηματίσει, membrorum quibus nunc utimur, diversitas denegatur. Aliud nobis spirituale et aethereum promittitur, quod nec tactui subjacet, nec oculis cernitur, nec pondere praegravatur, et pro locorum in quibus futurum est, varietate mutabitur. Alioqui si eaedem carnes erunt, et corpora quae fuerunt, rursum mares et feminae, rursum nuptiae; viris hirsutum supercilium, barba prolixa, mulieribus laeves genae et angusta pectora; ad concipiendos et pariendos fetus venter et femora dilatanda sunt. Resurgent etiam infantuli, resurgent et senes; illi nutriendi, hi baculis sustentandi. Nec vos, o simplices, resurrectio Domini decipiat, quod latus et manus

in a grain of wheat have roots, stalk, leaves, ears, and chaff been dissolved: so also in the principle of human bodies there remain certain ancient beginnings of rising, and as it were an ἐντεριώνη, that is, a nursery of the dead, is cherished in the bosom of the earth. And when the day of judgement has come, and at the voice of the archangel and at the last trumpet the earth has trembled, straightway the seeds will be moved, and in the point of an hour will sprout forth the dead; yet they will not restore the same flesh, nor in those forms which were before. Do you wish to know that what we say is true? Hear the Apostle: 'But someone says, How will the dead rise? and with what body will they come? Foolish man, what you sow, you sow not the body that shall be, but a bare grain, for instance of wheat' (1 Cor. 15:35–37), of the vine, and of the tree. And because we have already spoken in part concerning the grain of wheat and the seed of trees, let us now discourse concerning a grape-stone. The grain is small, so that it can scarcely be held with two little fingers. Where are the roots? Where the winding intertwining of roots and trunk and shoots? Where the shady bowers of vine-leaves, and the beauty of the grapes, teeming with future wines? What is held is dry, and is scarcely even seen; yet in that dry grain, by the power of God and the hidden principle of the seed, foaming musts will be poured forth. You attribute these things to wood, which is going to perish; thus is adorned that which is not going to remain, nor will it take back its former vileness; and do you wish again for bones, blood, and limbs, so that as hair grows you would need a barber, the nose would discharge phlegm, the growth of nails would have to be clipped, and through the lower parts either dung or lusts would flow out? If you bring forward those follies of rustics, you forget both the flesh—in which we cannot please God—as an enemy, and the resurrection of the dead: 'It is sown in corruption, it will rise in incorruption. It is sown in dishonour, it will rise in glory. It is sown in weakness, it will rise in power. It is sown an animate body, it will rise a spiritual body.' (1 Cor. 15:42–44) Now we see with eyes, hear with ears, act with hands, walk with feet; but in that spiritual body we shall be all sight, all hearing, all action, all walking; and 'the Lord will transfigure the body of our humiliation, conformable to the body of His glory.' (Phil. 3:21) When he said 'will transfigure', that is, μετασχηματίσει, the diversity of the limbs which we now use is denied. Another body, spiritual and ethereal, is promised to us, which is neither subject to touch, nor seen by eyes, nor weighed down by weight, and will be changed according to the variety of the places in which it shall be. Otherwise, if there shall be the same flesh and the bodies that were before, again there will be males and females, again marriages; for men a shaggy eyebrow and a long beard, for women smooth cheeks and narrow breasts; for conceiving and bearing offspring the belly and thighs must be dilated. Tiny infants also will rise, old men too will rise, the former to be nursed, the latter to be supported with staffs. Neither let the resurrection of the Lord deceive you, O simple folk, because side and hands

Editors' notes and page, col. 98

Footnotes

(61) ‹anchor: surget corpus spirituale› · call in col 98

I Cor. XV, 42, 43, 44.

1 Corinthians 15:42, 43, 44.

(printed under page 53)

(62) ‹anchor: corpori suae gloriae› · call in col 98

Philip. III, 21.

Philippians 3:21.

(printed under page 53)

Page

running head: RIGENIS DE RESURRECTIONE. 98
marginal letters: A enim in grano; B no tritici ac; C menta unguium; D ματίσει, membrorum
old-edition numerals: 37 before ossa,
other: Latin only, no Greek printed; manus split across col. break (set whole here; the tail 'nus' at the head of col 99 is not to be restored there)
misprint: 'ut putatricici' (for 'ut puta tritici') kept as printed
other: footnote call 60 stands in this column after 'ut putatricici'; the footnote is set in n97

PG 11:99

monstraverit, in littore steterit, in itinere cum Cleopha ambulaverit, et carnes et ossa habere se dixerit. Illud corpus aliis pollet privilegiis, quod de viri semine et carnis voluptate non natum est. Comedit post resurrectionem suam et bibit, et vestitus apparuit, tangendum se praebuit, ut dubitantibus apostolis fidem faceret resurrectionis. Sed

showed, stood on the shore, walked on the road with Cleopas, and said that He had flesh and bones. That body is strong in other privileges, in that it was not born of the seed of a man and of the pleasure of the flesh. He ate after His resurrection and drank, and appeared clothed, offered Himself to be touched, so that He might make the doubting apostles believe in the resurrection. But

Editors' notes and page, col. 99

Footnotes

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⁸³ 1 Cor. XV, 53.

1 Cor. 15:53.

(printed under page 54)