Origen’s allegory; the demon and David’s kingdom
Leaning on such allegories, they claim by a mere shared name to interpret unlike sciences or readings of constitutions. Indeed many Jews even today, wrapping themselves in the names of patriarchs or prophets, do unlawful things; and many among the Greeks, called Peter and Paul, do what is ruinous. So Origen’s empty words are caught not least by this kind of light talk. What he brings in wrongly about the resurrection cannot be shown in full here — for Methodius, worthy of holy memory, wrote sufficiently on that theorem and showed plainly that Origen, defining the resurrection on the form rather than on the body itself, unwillingly gave the heretics an opening. That he overturned everything by allegories and sowed seeds of bad doctrine everywhere is easy to see; repeating himself up and down, he filled the inhabited world with unmeasured chatter. By such a method allegorizing everything in every way, he alone could not explain the words of the belly-speaker, nor again set out the clear sense from the sequence itself. What did he bring in besides, inventing escapes by a show of piety? Since the apparition seemed to have said to Saul, “The Lord will tear the kingdom from your hand,” arguing persuasively he answered that one must not think “a demon prophesies about the kingdom of Israel.” Already earlier we said the demon stole these words spoken before by Samuel, so as to deceive the senseless Saul and seem to speak his own. But Origen pretends not to know such dramas of the devil. When it seemed to foretell that the madman’s kingdom would be torn, it then added, “and he will give it to your neighbor, to David.” The much-learned Origen, stirred here, said: “A demon cannot know the kingdom of David appointed by the Lord.” But I am moved to wonder how he carries a reputation for good counsel among the many, as if thoughtful and best in judgment. If the kingdom were unclear, one might somehow feign ignorance under a pretext; but if it was witnessed by God, and Samuel had anointed him for it, and always excelling in the wars he was shown the king’s son-in-law — so that the dancing women ascribed the tens of thousands to him and the thousands to Saul — and if these and such things stood clear, what strange or paradoxical thing was it if the demon recognized the kingdom that exists and was appointed by the Lord through the prophet? For must one not think (if one must say by way of excess that he knows only bodily things) that the anointing with oil has a perceptible application of touch? No one will dispute that these things stand plain to all. And to speak the surplus: even if such things had not stood clear — which would be greater in comparison, to know David’s kingdom, or to bring prophetic souls up from Hades? Yet this too has been shown in the case of the greater person: for even concerning Christ the demons, twisted and unwilling, cry out in so many words, “What have we to do with you, Son of God? Have you come before the time to destroy us?” But to send for souls from Hades and at the same time call down choirs of angels flying from heaven — God alone and his most divine Son have authority to do that; no one else at all. If then they knew God’s invisible kingdom anointed by the Holy Spirit, could they not much more recognize David’s, shown through a perceptible anointing and a visible pouring? Or did the criminal not know what was done and set in the scriptures about David — he who even came to the Lord when he put on the body and said boldly: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written that he will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you on their hands, lest you strike your foot against a stone”? So if he is formed to speak from the holy scriptures, he knows what is written — though badly learned; and if he stands in knowledge of these things, he did not fail to know David’s kingdom, which is carved in the sacred letters. Therefore when the demon speaks what is written, he prophesied nothing at all. But the much-famed Origen, finding nothing to say, turns to this…
Greek
τοιαύταις ἐπερειδόμενοι τροπολογίαις ὁποίᾳ μεθόδῳ τὰς ἀνομοίους ἐπιστήμας ἢ πολιτειῶν ἀναγωγὰς ἐκ τῆς ὁμωνυμίας ἀξιοῦσιν ἑρμηνεύειν. ἀμέλει πολλοὶ μὲν ἔτι καὶ τήμερον Ἰουδαῖοι προπατόρων ἢ προφητῶν ὀνόματα περιβαλλόμενοι δρῶσιν ἀθέμιτα, πολλοὶ δὲ καὶ παρ' Ἕλλησιν Πέτροι καὶ Παῦλοι καλούμενοι πράττουσιν ἀνήκεστα. 22.5 τὰ μὲν τοίνυν ὑπόκενα τῶν λόγων Ὠριγένους οὐχ ἥκιστα καὶ διὰ τῆς τοιαύτης ἁλίσκεται κουφολογίας. ὅσα δὲ τῆς ἀναστάσεως ἕνεκα κακοδόξως εἰσηγεῖται, δηλῶσαι μὲν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος οὐχ οἷόν τε. Μεθόδιος γὰρ ὁ τῆς ἁγίας ἄξιος μνήμης ἔγραψεν ἀποχρώντως εἰς τόδε τὸ θεώρημα, καὶ διέδειξέ γε <ἀνα>φανδὸν ὅτι τοῖς αἱρεσιώταις ἔδωκε πάροδον ἀβούλως, ἐπὶ εἴδους, ἀλλ' οὐκ ἐπὶ σώματος αὐτοῦ τὴν ἀνάστασιν ὁρισάμενος. 22.6 ἀλλ' ὅτι μὲν ἅπαντα τροπολογίαις ἀνέτρεψε καὶ τὰ τῆς κακοδοξίας ἔσπειρεν ἑκασταχοῦ σπέρματα ῥᾷόν ἐστιν ἰδεῖν, ἄνω δὲ καὶ κάτω ταυτολογῶν ἐπλήρωσε τὴν οἰκουμένην ἀμέτρῳ φλυαρίᾳ. 22.7 τοιαύτῃ δὲ δὴ μεθόδῳ συνήθως ἀλληγορῶν ἅπαντα πανταχῶς, οὐχ οἷός τε ἐγένετο τὰ τῆς ἐγγαστριμύθου τροπολογῆσαι ῥήματα μόνον, οὐδ' αὖ τὸ σαφὲς ἐξ αὐτῆς ἱστορῆσαι τῆς ἀκολουθίας. 23.1 Ἀλλὰ τί πρὸς ἐπὶ τούτοις εἰσήγαγεν, ἀφοσιώσει πλαττόμενος ἀποφυγάς; ἐπειδήπερ ἐδόκει τὸ φάσμα τῷ Σαοὺλ εἰρηκέναι· «διαρρήξει κύριος τὴν βασιλείαν ἐκ χειρός σου», πρὸς ταῦτα πιθανολογῶν ἀνθυπέφερεν ὡς οὐ χρεὼν εἴη νοεῖν ὅτι «δαιμόνιον προφητεύει περὶ βασιλείας Ἰσραηλιτικῆς». 23.2 ἤδη δὲ καὶ πρόσθεν ἔφαμεν ὅτι ταῦτα τὰ ῥήματα τῷ Σαμουὴλ εἰρημένα πρόσθεν ἔκλεψεν ὁ δαίμων, ἵνα δὴ τὸν ἔκφρονα Σαοὺλ ἐξαπατήσας ἴδια δόξῃ λέγειν. ἀλλ' οὗτος οὐ προσποιεῖται τὰ τοιάδε τοῦ διαβόλου δράματα γιγνώσκειν. ὡς οὖν ἐδόκει προλέγειν ὅτι διαρραγήσοιτο τοῦ παραπλῆγος ἡ βασιλεία, τηνικαῦτα προσετίθει· «καὶ δώσει αὐτὴν τῷ πλησίον σου τῷ ∆αβίδ». ὁ μέντοιγε πολυΐστωρ Ὠριγένης ἐνταῦθα κινηθεὶς ἔφη· «δαιμόνιον δὲ» λέγων «οὐ δύναται εἰδέναι τὴν βασιλείαν ∆αβὶδ τὴν ὑπὸ κυρίου χειροτονηθεῖσαν». 23.3 ἀλλ' ἔμοιγε θαυμάζειν ἔπεισιν ὅπως οὗτος ἀποφέρεται δόξαν ἐτ' εὐβουλίᾳ παρὰ τοῖς πολλοῖς, ὡς ἔμφρων ἅμα καὶ γνώμης ἄριστος. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἄδηλος ἦν ἡ βασιλεία, ἐξῆν ἂν ἴσως ἄγνοιαν ὑποκρίνεσθαί τινα σκηπτόμενον· 23.4 εἰ δὲ μεμαρτύρητο μὲν ὑπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ, κέχριστο δ' ἐπὶ τούτοις ὑπὸ τοῦ Σαμουήλ, ἔν τε τοῖς πολέμοις ἀριστεύων ἀεὶ γαμβρὸς ἀναδέδεικτο τοῦ βασιλέως, ὥστε τούτῳ μὲν τὰς χορευούσας ἀναθεῖναι τὰς μυριάδας, τῷ δὲ Σαοὺλ ἀποδοῦναι τὰς χιλιάδας, εἰ δὲ ταῦτα καὶ τὰ τοιαῦτα καθειστήκει σαφῆ, τί ξένον ἢ τί παράδοξον ἦν, εἰ τὴν οὖσαν καὶ κεχειροτονημένην ὑπὸ τοῦ κυρίου διὰ τοῦ προφήτου βασιλείαν ἐπεγίνωσκεν ὁ δαίμων; 23.5 ἦ γὰρ οὐ διανοητέον (εἴ γε δεῖ λέγειν ἐξ ὑπερβολῆς ὅτι τὰ σωματικὰ μόνον οἶδεν) ὡς ἡ τοῦ ἐλαίου χρίσις αἰσθητὴν ἔχει τὴν τῆς ἁφῆς ἐπιφοράν; ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν οὐδεὶς ἀμφιλέξει πρόδηλα καθεστάναι πᾶσιν· ἵνα δὲ τὸ ὑπερβάλλον ἐρῶ προσθεὶς εἰ καὶ μὴ <τὰ> τοιαῦτα καθειστήκει σαφῆ· πότερον ἂν εἴη μεῖζον πρὸς σύγκρισιν τὸ γνῶναι τὴν τοῦ ∆αβὶδ βασιλείαν, ἢ ψυχὰς ἐξ ᾅδου προφητικὰς ἀνάξαι; 23.6 καίτοι τοῦτο καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κρείττονος ἀποδέδεικται προσώπου· καὶ γὰρ καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ Χριστοῦ στρεβλούμενοι καὶ ἄκοντες ἐκβοῶσιν οἱ δαίμονες, αὐτολεξεὶ «τί ἡμῖν καὶ σοί» κεκραγότες «υἱὲ τοῦ θεοῦ; ἦλθες πρὸ καιροῦ ἀπολέσαι ἡμᾶς;» τὸ δὲ ψυχὰς ἐξ ᾅδου μεταπέμπεσθαι καὶ χοροὺς ἀγγέλων οὐρανοπετεῖς ἐν ταὐτῷ μετακαλεῖσθαι μόνος ἐξουσίαν ἔχει διαπράττεσθαι θεὸς καὶ ὁ θειότατος αὐτοῦ παῖς, ἄλλος δὲ τὸ παράπαν οὐδείς. 23.7 εἰ οὖν τὴν ἀόρατον τοῦ θεοῦ βασιλείαν ἔγνωσαν ἁγίῳ πνεύματι χρισθεῖσαν, οὐ πολλῷ πλέον ἐπιγνῶναι τὴν τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἐδύναντο διὰ χρίσματος ἀναδειχθεῖσαν αἰσθητοῦ καὶ καταχύσεως ὁρατῆς; ἀλλ' οὐκ ᾔδει τὰ πεπραγμένα καὶ γραφαῖς ἀνακείμενα περὶ τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ὁ ἀλιτήριος, ὅς γε καὶ τῷ κυρίῳ περιβαλλομένῳ τὸ σῶμα προσελθὼν ἔφη τολμηρῶς· «εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, βάλε σεαυτὸν κάτω· γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ» φησὶν «ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσίν σε, μήποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδα σου»; 23.8 οὐκοῦν εἴπερ ἐκ τῶν ἁγίων ὑποτυποῦται γραφῶν ὁμιλεῖν, οἶδεν ἄρα τὰ γεγραμμένα κακομαθῶς· εἰ δὲ τούτων ἐν γνώσει καθέστηκεν, οὐκ ἄρα τὴν τοῦ ∆αβὶδ ἠγνόει βασιλείαν, ἣ τοῖς ἱεροῖς ἐγκεχάρακται γράμμασιν· ὥστε τὰ γεγραμμένα λέγων ὁ δαίμων οὐδὲν ἐπροφήτευσεν οὐδαμῶς. 24.1 Ἀλλ' ὁ πολύφημος Ὠριγένης, οὐδ' ὁτιοῦν εὑρίσκων εἰπεῖν, εἰς τοῦτο
About this text
Eustathius against Origen on the witch of Endor / belly-speaker (1 Samuel 28).
Catalogue & scope
Khazarzar scan
Witnesses
- Copy-text PG 18 (Khazarzar) (Greek)
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