On Prayer 22.4
Summary: The saints are an image of Christ, who is the image of God, and so bear the likeness of sonship; the Son came to destroy the devil's seed in sinners so they may become God's children.
Greek text · Koetschau 2:348–349
πᾶν οὖν ἔργον αὐτοῖς καὶ λόγος καὶ νόημα, ὑπὸ τοῦ μονογενοῦς λόγου μεμορφωμένα κατʼ αὐτὸν, μεμίμηται τὴν εἰκόνα „τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου“ καὶ γέγονε „κατʼ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος, “ ἀνατέλλοντος „τὸν ἥλιον“ „ἐπὶ πονηροὺς καὶ ἀγαθοὺς καὶ“ βρέχοντος „ἐπὶ δικαίους καὶ ἀδίκους, “ ὡς εἶναι ἐν αὐτοῖς „τὴν εἰκόνα τοῦ ἐπουρανίου, “ καὶ αὐτοῦ ὄντος εἰκόνος θεοῦ. „εἰκὼν“ οὖν εἰκόνος οἱ ἅγιοι τυγχάνοντες, τῆς εἰκόνος οὔσης υἱοῦ, ἀπομάττονται υἱότητα, οὐ μόνῳ „τῷ σώματι τῆς δόξης“ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γινόμενοι σύμμορφοι ἀλλὰ καὶ ὄντι ἐν „τῷ σώματι.“ γίνονται δὲ σύμμορφοι τῷ ἐν „σώματι τῆς δόξης, “ μεταμορφούμενοι „τῇ ἀνακαινίσει τοῦ νοός.“ εἰ δʼ οἱ τοιοῦτοι διʼ ὅλων φασὶ τό· „πάτερ ἡμῶν ὁ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς, “ δηλονότι „ὁ ποιῶν τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, “ ὥς φησιν ἐν τῇ καθολικῇ ὁ Ἰωάννης, „ἐκ τοῦ διαβόλου ἐστὶν, ὅτι ἀπʼ ἀρχῆς ὁ διάβολος ἁμαρτάνει.“ καὶ ὥσπερ „σπέρμα“ τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν τῷ γεγεννημένῳ „ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ“ μένον, αἴτιον τοῦ μὴ δύνασθαι „ἁμαρτάνειν“ γίνεται τῷ κατὰ τὸν μονογενῆ λόγον μεμορφωμένῳ· οὕτως ἐν παντὶ τῷ ποιοῦντι „τὴν ἁμαρτίαν“ „σπέρμα“ τοῦ διαβόλου ἔνεστιν, ὅσον ἐνυπάρχει τῇ ψυχῇ, μὴ ἐῶν δύνασθαι κατορθοῦν τὸν ἔχοντα αὐτό. ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ „εἰς τοῦτο ἐφανερώθη ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα λύσῃ τὰ ἔργα τοῦ διαβόλου, “ δυνατὸν τῇ εἰς τὴν ψυχὴν ἡμῶν ἐπιδημίᾳ τοῦ λόγου τοῦ θεοῦ, λυθέντων τῶν ἔργων „τοῦ διαβόλου, “ ἐξαφανισθῆναι τὸ ἐντεθὲν ἡμῖν „σπέρμα“ πονηρὸν, καὶ γενέσθαι ἡμᾶς „τέκνα τοῦ θεοῦ.“
English · Claude translation
Every deed, then, and word and thought of theirs, formed by the only-begotten Word according to himself, imitates the image “of the invisible God” and has come to be “after the image of the Creator,” who makes “his sun rise on the evil and the good” and sends rain “on the just and the unjust,” so that there is in them “the image of the heavenly,” who is himself the image of God. The saints, then, being an image of an image, the image being the Son, receive the imprint of sonship, becoming conformed not only to the “body of glory” of Christ but also to him who is in “the body.” And they become conformed to him who is in “the body of glory” by being transformed “by the renewal of the mind.” If such people say with their whole being, “Our Father in heaven,” clearly “he who commits sin,” as John says in the catholic letter, “is of the devil, because the devil has sinned from the beginning.” And just as the “seed” of God, abiding in the one who has been born “of God,” is the cause of his being unable to “sin,” for one formed according to the only-begotten Word, so in everyone who commits “sin” there is the “seed” of the devil, as long as it is present in the soul, not allowing the one who has it to do right. But since “for this purpose the Son of God was revealed, to destroy the works of the devil,” it is possible, by the coming of the Word of God into our soul, when the works “of the devil” have been destroyed, for the evil “seed” planted in us to be wiped out, and for us to become “children of God.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Col 1:15, Col 3:10, Matt 5:45, 1 Cor 15:49, Phil 3:21, Rom 12:2, and 1 John 3:8–10.
Cite this passage
Origen, Or. 22.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/22/4/).
Plain text
Origen, Or. 22.4 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-oratione/22/4/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text