Commentary on the Gospel of John

About this work

Author

Origen

Attribution

authentic · Undisputed work of Origen, written at the request of Ambrose, who is addressed in several prefaces (e.g. 2.1). Eusebius (Church History 6.24) knew it. Of the original 32 books only Books 1, 2, 6, 10, 13, 19 (incomplete), 20, 28, and 32 survive in Greek, with fragments of Books 4 and 5 preserved in the Philocalia.

Older English translation

Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 9 (1896) (public domain, at CCEL; for comparison: our translation is made from the original first and checked against it afterwards) · Allan Menzies's translation covers Books 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, and 10 only, and cites by the older chapter numbers.

Date

ca. 230–248 (approximate) · Books 1–5 were written at Alexandria; Book 6 was begun there and finished at Caesarea after Origen moved there (about 234), as its preface says. The later books belong to his years at Caesarea; their exact dates are uncertain.

Written at

Alexandria and Caesarea, Egypt and Palestine (probable)

Addressed to

Ambrose (e.g. 2.1)

Language

Greek

Genre

commentary

Reference system

book.section (Preuschen's section numbers, which run through each book and are used by modern editions); the fragments of Books 4 and 5 are 4.1–2 and 5.1–8. Older editions and ANF cite by chapter instead.

SBL abbreviation

Comm. Jo.

Clavis

CPG 1453 (unverified)

Text from

Erwin Preuschen, ed., Origenes Werke 4: Der Johanneskommentar, GCS 10 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1903) (Printed edition in the public domain; digital text CC BY-SA 4.0)

Critical editions

Cécile Blanc, Origène: Commentaire sur saint Jean, 5 vols., SC 120, 157, 222, 290, 385 (Paris: Cerf, 1966–1992) (cited, not reproduced)

CTS URN

urn:cts:greekLit:tlg2042.tlg005