Origen · a new plain-English translation from the Greek and Latin
It is written in the Gospel according to Matthew that our savior came by the sea of Galilee and saw "Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen." Then the text says that the savior, seeing them, said, "Follow me, and men is what I shall make you catchers of. And leaving their nets behind, they followed
him." And Jesus made them, instead of fish, take up the catching of men. And "two other brothers he found besides, John and his brother James the son of Zebedee, mending nets in the boat together with their father; and these too he called" to the same craft, and made them too fishers of men. And if anyone has observed those who possess from
God the grace of a word woven like nets and composed out of the sacred scriptures like a casting-net, so that the souls of the hearers are wrapped in the mesh, and has also observed this being done skillfully according to the craft, that now our savior sends out fishers of men, having trained them, so that we may be able to come up out of the sea and escape its bitter waves. But those fish,
the soulless ones, once brought up in seines and casting-nets and nets or on hooks, die a death not succeeded by life. But the one caught by the fishermen of Jesus and brought up from the sea, he too indeed dies, but he dies to the world, he dies to sin, and after dying to the world and
to sin he is made alive by the word of God and takes up another life. As if you were able, by way of illustration, to conceive of the fish's soul changing after it leaves the fish's body and becoming something better than a fish (I have taken this as an example; let no one take it as an occasion for objection, as though he had not heard aright), something of this sort you will understand. You have come up out of the sea, having fallen under
the nets of the disciples of Jesus; on coming out you change your soul, you are no longer a fish spending your time in the salty waves of the sea, but at once your soul changes and is transformed and becomes something better and more divine than what it was before. And that it is transformed and changed, hear Paul saying: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord
as in a mirror, are transformed into that same image, going from one degree of glory to the next, even as from the Lord, the Spirit." And this fish, having been transformed, the one caught by the fishermen of Jesus, leaving behind his life in the sea, makes his life among the mountains, so that he no longer needs the fishermen who bring him up from the sea, but certain others, who are called hunters, who hunt "from every mountain
and from every hill." You, then, having come up from the sea and been caught in the nets of the disciples of Jesus, change from the sea, forget it, come to the mountains, the prophets, and to the hills, the righteous, and make your dwelling there, so that afterward, when your time comes... the fishers. But who might these be, or
those appointed to receive the souls that are upon the hills, that do not lie down below? And see whether the prophet is not crying out mystically when he says these things, and setting forth this very sense in the words: “Behold, I send many fishers, says the Lord, and they will fish for them; and after these things I will send many hunters, and they will hunt them upon every mountain and”
“upon every hill.” If, then, you wish to be caught by the hunters, see that you do not make your dwelling in the valleys, nor linger anywhere below, but seek the mountains. Go up to the mountain where Jesus was transfigured; go up to the mountain upon which, having seen the crowds, Jesus went up, and the disciples followed him, where, “having opened his mouth,”
he instructed them with these words: “How blessed are the poor in spirit, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them,” and the beatitudes that follow these. And it is not possible for these hunters to make their catch from anywhere else than from the mountains and the hills and from the clefts of the rocks. For these three things are stated in the prophet: “For I will send many hunters, and”
“they will hunt them upon every mountain and upon every hill and from the clefts of the rocks.” Whence, then, shall I understand the rocks and the clefts that are in the rocks? I come to Exodus, I seek to find some trace of an account of the clefts of the rocks; I find Moses there wishing to know God, and God promising him and saying: “Behold, I will set you”
“in a hole of the rock, and you shall observe my back; but my face shall not be seen by you.” If you understand the rock there, and see there the hole that is in the rock — for one who has seen it sees God through the hole of the rock — you will also see the many rocks and their clefts. Who, then, is that rock, the one rock—
the rock itself? “Now the rock was Christ”; “for they were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them,” and “he set my feet upon a rock” is said in the thirty-ninth Psalm. What is the hole that is in the rock? If you consider the coming of Jesus, understanding him as wholly a rock, you will see the hole that corresponds to his coming, through which hole are beheld
the things that come after God. For such is the meaning understood in “and you shall see my back.” But I have found one hole of one rock; I move by the argument from the hole to the cleft of the rock, and I seek the many rocks as well. If I come to the company either of the prophets or of the apostles, or even of the holy angels who have ascended, I say that all
the imitators of Christ, since he is a rock, themselves become rocks. And just as he has a hole through which the things that come after God are observed, in the same way each one, by giving a way for God to be understood through the things said by him, makes in himself a hole — or, if you prefer to name it otherwise, a cleft. From which hole or cleft you will see, on the one hand through Moses,
the law, and through Isaiah his prophecy, and through Jeremiah other words of God. But if it is also an angel who will speak, as he spoke according to what is said in ‘and the angel who spoke in me,’ there too I stand upon the angel, and there too I see a rock and a cleft of the rock, and I see God in an angelic way. But I need an example
so that I may set forth how it is possible, having come to an angel, to see God also through an angel. For it is written in Exodus: ‘The angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in a flame of fire out of a bush. And Moses sees that the bush is burning with fire, and the bush is not consumed.’ And Scripture did not say, just as it said at the beginning that ‘an angel appeared,’ so
it went on to say that it was the angel of the Lord, but rather, ‘I am Abraham’s God, Isaac’s God, and Jacob’s God.’ God, then, was there, being seen in the angel, just as he is known through the rock and the cleft that is in it. You do not know, then, when the hunters are sent. For this reason never come down from the mountains, nor leave the hills, nor go outside
the clefts of the rocks; for if you are found outside, it will be said to you, as to one who happens to be outside and says the things of those outside: ‘Fool, this night they demand your soul from you; but the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ This will be said to you; and this too will be said to you, if you say: ‘I will tear down my storehouses and build larger ones, and I will say to my
soul: Soul, you have good things laid up for many years; rest, eat, drink, be merry.’ You see the one below the mountains, below the hills, outside the clefts of the rocks, how he goes astray even in his judgment about good things, supposing these to be good things. Therefore he says: ‘And to my own soul I will declare: Soul, you have good things laid up for many years.’ The
grain and the abundance of earthly things he has reckoned to be good; for he did not see that the truly good things are not in the accursed earth, but the truly good things are in heaven. He was storing up treasure on earth, since he supposed the things on earth to be good. But if someone passes over from storing up treasure ‘on earth,’ obeying Jesus, to storing up treasure
‘in heaven,’ it will not be said to him, ‘Fool, this night they demand your soul from you,’ but the hunters, coming and seeking not the creatures below but those in the mountains, those in the hills, those sheltering in the clefts of the rocks, will capture these and lead them away from that hunt. To where? To the rest of the
holy and blessed ones in Christ Jesus. For ‘my eyes,’ he says, ‘are upon all their ways.’ Of such people, who make their dwelling on the mountains and in the hills and in the clefts of the rocks, upon all their ways God has his eyes. ‘And they were not hidden from my face’ — such people; for
the wicked hide from the face of God. Adam, after the transgression, heard the Lord God’s voice moving through the garden as evening drew on, and hid himself; but the holy man is not hidden, but has a heart with boldness in accordance with his holy conduct before God. For “if our conscience does not condemn us, it has boldness before God, and”
“whatever we ask, we receive from him.” Now Adam, even though he sinned, did not sin to an excessive degree; therefore he hid “from the face of God.” But Cain, more sinful than he and most impious, the fratricide, what did he do? “He went out from the face of God.” So that, by comparison of evils, it is the lesser thing to be hidden from the face of God; for indeed
this man hides not out of shamelessness but out of reverence for God. “They were not hidden,” then, “from my face” — these, who did these things, had once been in sins and had been fished up out of the sins that were in the sea. So that those who were fished up and afterward came to the mountains might not suppose that this had come about for them out of righteousness, the word reminds not only them but also
us of our former sins. That is why it is said, after the benefits: “and their wrongdoings were not hidden before my eyes.” What follows is about to produce a struggle for us. For whether we understand it as consistent with what precedes, we will give careful attention to the repayment of sins; or whether it seems not to be consistent with what was said before about those fished and hunted, and thus it throws us into a struggle
that is no ordinary one. For “I will repay,” he says, “first double their iniquities and their sins, by which they profaned my land with the corpses of their abominations, and with their lawless deeds with which they filled my inheritance.” As for the word “first” — whether some, failing to understand it, removed it from what was written, or the Seventy, managing the matter, removed it,
God alone would know. We, however, comparing it with the remaining editions, found it retained: “and I will repay first double their iniquities,” so that it might be made clear that even if they might be worthy of blessedness on account of their later deeds, since they are human beings and have been in sins, they must first receive back their sins. And see whether the statement is not true. Who does not
receive back sins, except the one who, after believing and receiving forgiveness of sins (so as to hear Jesus saying, “your sins are forgiven you”), no longer sins? But if, after the forgiveness of sins and the dispensation of the washing of regeneration, we should sin — as we, the many who have not been made perfect like the apostles — and after sinning also do something fitting alongside our sinning, what awaits us must be considered.
Is it then the case that if we depart from life having sins, but also having deeds of manly courage, we will be saved on account of the deeds of manly courage, but released as regards the things sinned knowingly? Or will we be punished on account of the sins, but nowhere receive a reward for the deeds of manly courage? But neither the one — I mean, to receive back the worse and not to receive —
...the better things, it is not just of God; nor is the other case—I mean receiving the better things without receiving the worse—just of God, since he wishes to cleanse and cut away evil. For suppose you have built, after the foundation Christ Jesus which you have been taught, not only >gold and silver and precious stone< — if indeed you have
gold, whether much gold or little; suppose you have silver, precious stone—and I speak not only of these, but suppose you also have >wood and hay and stubble< — what do you want to become of you after your departure? Do you wish ever to enter into the holy things with your wood and your hay and your stubble, so that you defile
the kingdom of God? But again, do you wish to remain because of the hay, because of the wood, because of the stubble, in the fire, and receive nothing in exchange for the gold and silver and precious stone? This too is not reasonable. What then? First it follows that, because of the wood, the fire is received that consumes [the fire] the wood and the hay and the stubble;
for our God is said, in his essence, by those able to understand, to be a consuming fire. And the prophet was silent as to what he consumes when he said, "our God is a consuming fire," but he has left it for us to understand. Since he said, "God is a fire that consumes," there is something that is consumed. What then is that which is consumed? For it is not what is according to the image and likeness
that he consumes, nor does he consume his own creature, but the hay built upon it, the wood built upon it, the stubble built upon it. The passage was extremely difficult to explain. There were promises, and after the promises he says: "and I will first repay their iniquities twofold." The word "first" is necessarily added; for first the things of iniquity, then the things of righteousness are repaid, for God does not repay in the reverse order.
If he repaid the good things first, so that we might receive the good things, but now repays the bad things, it would have been necessary for the good things to end, so that we might receive the bad things. <But we will receive the bad things first, and after these the good things,> so that, through the removal of the evils, the punishment of those who suffered might come to an end, so that after these he might repay the good things. For this reason you will find in the
sacred scriptures that God says first the things that seem more grim, and after these the better things. "I will kill and I will make alive; I will strike, and I will heal." "He himself causes pain and again restores; he struck, and his hands healed." On these matters one who understands and is <piously> disposed toward what is said can say: "Lord, who shall dwell as a stranger in your tent? Or
who shall dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks blameless and works righteousness, speaking truth in his heart; who has not deceived with his tongue, and has done no evil to his neighbor, and has not taken up reproach against those nearest to him." (But we reproach even those who repent and turn back, though scripture says: "Do not reproach a man who turns away from sin.")
"reproach he did not receive against those nearest him; the one who acts wickedly is held in contempt before him, but those who fear him — we will receive back our sins." But someone listening will say: explain also the "double"; let it be granted that I receive back my sins first, so that once I have received back my sins, afterward what was said by the apostle may be fulfilled: "if anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself
will be saved, yet so as through fire" — why then do I receive back my sins "double"? But it must be said that "the servant who knew his master’s will and did not act according to his will will be beaten" not with few but with "many" blows. It is fitting, then, that those who sin from among the nations receive back their sins single, but that we receive back
our offenses double. "For if we sin willingly after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that is about to consume the adversaries." It was prophesied concerning those who would be fished for and hunted and who would first receive back their sins double. After these things the calling of the nations is prophesied more clearly — not of those being called, but of those
already called; and not of those who do not know what they should confess and for what they should give thanks, but of those who have already learned. For in the earlier passages we were learning that they were called, fished, hunted; what they will experience is told in the second passages. Let us see what he prophesies concerning us, who are already learning to pray, or rather have already learned. "Lord, my strength and my help and my refuge in the day of evils; to you nations will come
from the end of the earth and will say: our fathers acquired false idols, and there is no benefit in them." From the end of the earth the nations came to God, and the nations said: "our fathers acquired false idols, and there is no benefit in them"? How "from the end of the earth"? There are some who are first of the earth
and there are some who are last of the earth. Who are first? "The wise of the world" are first of the earth, not simply first: "the wise of the world, the well-born," the rich, the men of rank. Who are the last? "The foolish things of the world God chose for himself, the base things, the things held in contempt, the things that are not." So "nations" will come "from the end of the earth," as if he were saying: from
the last of the men on earth, from the foolish, from the base-born, from those held in contempt, "and they will say: our fathers acquired false idols, and there is no benefit in them." Not that there are some true idols, in contradistinction to which the false are spoken of, but idols, which by their very nature are false: "and there is no benefit in them." "If a man makes for himself
gods." Not only do men make gods for themselves out of statues, but you will also find that they make gods for themselves out of fabrications; for as many as are able to fabricate another god and another cosmogony besides the one recorded by the Spirit, an administration of the world beside the true world [concerning the administration of the world] — all these have made gods for themselves and worshiped the works of their own hands.
For example, consider — whether among the Greeks those who gave birth to doctrines, let us say, of this philosophy or that one, or among the sects those who first gave birth to doctrines — these made for themselves idols and fabrications of the soul, and turning, worshiped the works of their own hands, accepting their own fabrications as truth. All, then, who make for themselves gods, both in a perceptible and in an intelligible way,
refuting them, the word says: "If a man makes gods for himself, are these then not gods? Therefore I will show them my hand at this time, and I will make known to them also my power." At what time but this? Showing the time of the Lord's coming: "and they shall know," it says, "that my name is the Lord." Then there is another
prophecy — which, I do not know how, we did not find in the Seventy, but did find in the remaining editions, clearly because it stands in the Hebrew — and it is filled with the most necessary matters, able, if we pay attention, to turn our soul back. The words run thus: "The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, engraved with a diamond point upon the tablet of their heart." It is possible
to give oneself over to the easier course and say: this is written concerning the Jews, that their sin "is written." But if you observe, as we have often shown, that Judah is spoken of figuratively for Christ, perhaps the "sin of Judah" is ours, of us who believe in Christ, who is from the tribe of Judah. But if you can also hear it in another, more mystical way, perhaps it prophesies concerning Judas the betrayer,
so that the prophecy concerning him would read: "The sin of Judas is written with an iron stylus, engraved with a diamond point upon the tablet of the heart" — but again, in his case, the word "their" does not follow. Perhaps, then, it was speaking of us, that if we become sinners, these things that are prophesied come to reach us. We have sinned, and our sin is not written outside us, but in
our heart, and it is written "with an iron stylus, with a diamond point." And that the sins we commit are inscribed upon us through the very act of sinning, the matter itself will demonstrate. I was not conscious in myself of this deed or that sin; having done it, I now bear its imprint, and, as it were, the imprint is written of my sin that was committed in my soul. And
if my sin had been written in ink, I could have wiped it away; but as it is, it is written "with an iron stylus," it is written "with a diamond point," it is written "upon the tablet of" our "heart," so that I may come to the place of judgment and the prophecy that says may be fulfilled: "Nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest, and nothing covered that will not be uncovered." My breast has been laid bare, and the
heart, bearing the letters of sin inscribed upon it with the stylus, upon my breast, and in my heart the imprints of my sins. "For nothing is hidden that will not be made manifest," but "among one another the thoughts accuse or even excuse," and "judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will also bring to light the hidden things"
"of darkness, and he will manifest the counsels of hearts." To whom will he manifest them? Not to himself; for he himself knows "all things before their coming to be." But to whom, then, will he manifest them? To all who, because of their own purity, are going to see the sin of the one who has sinned, so that sinners "may rise to reproach and everlasting shame" — from which may the God of all rescue us, so that
we may rise into the glory that is in Christ, to whom belongs the glory and the might, for the ages. Amen.