Preface to Book 1

Jerome’s Apology for Himself Against the Books of Rufinus. Addressed to Pammachius and Marcella from Bethlehem, in the year 402. Book 1. When Jerome wrote his Apology, he had these documents in front of him. First, Rufinus’s translation of Pamphilus’s Apology for Origen, with the preface Rufinus put in front of it, and his book On the Falsification of the Books of Origen. Second, Rufinus’s translation of On First Principles, with his preface. Third, Rufinus’s Apology addressed to Anastasius. Fourth, Anastasius’s letter to John of Jerusalem, which Jerome mentions in Book 2, chapter 14, and Book 3, chapter 20, of this Apology. He also had other letters of Anastasius, such as the one addressed to the bishop of Milan, which is Jerome’s Letter 95 and is mentioned again in Book 3, chapter 21. But he did not have the full text of Rufinus’s Apology, as he says in chapters 4 and 15. He received letters from Pammachius and Marcella at the beginning of the spring of the year 402. By then the Apology that Rufinus had written at Aquileia at the end of the year 400 had been known to Rufinus’s friends for some time. Pammachius and Marcella had not been able to get a full copy, but they had sent its main points and had strongly urged Jerome to reply. At the same time his brother Paulinian, who had spent some three years in the West, came back to Palestine by way of Rome. There he heard and saw parts of Rufinus’s Apology, which he learned by heart, as Jerome says in chapters 21 and 28, and repeated at Bethlehem. It is to these documents that Jerome replies. The main points of the First Book are as follows. Chapter 1. It is hard that an old friend with whom I had been reconciled should attack me in a book secretly passed around among his disciples. Chapter 2. Others have translated Origen. Why does he single me out? Chapter 3. He gave me false praise in his preface to On First Principles. Now, because I defend myself, he writes three books against me as an enemy. Chapters 4 and 5. He spoke of me as one with him in faith; but what is his faith? Why are his books kept secret? I can meet any attack. [a] Chapter 6. I translated On First Principles because you demanded it, and because his translation glossed over Origen’s heresies. Chapter 7. My translation cleared away the ambiguities and showed the real character of the book, and of the earlier translation. Chapter 8. My translation of Origen’s commentaries caused no stir; his first translation, of Pamphilus’s Apology, roused all Rome to indignation. Chapter 9. But the work was really Eusebius’s, and Eusebius tells us that Pamphilus wrote nothing. Chapter 10. Now that Theophilus and Anastasius have condemned Origen, Rufinus would be wise to give up this pretended defense. [c] Chapter 11. I had praised Eusebius, as well as Origen, only as writers, and I was forced to condemn them as heretics. Why should this be taken badly? Chapter 12. I wrote a friendly letter to Rufinus, which my friends held back. Chapter 13. There is nothing to blame in my getting the help of a Jew in translating from the Hebrew. Chapter 14. There is nothing strange in my praising Origen before I knew On First Principles. Chapter 15. The accusations seem inconsistent, but I knew them only by report. Chapter 16. The work of a commentator. Chapter 17. We must tell apart the different ways of writing, and not expect a common, plain simplicity in the various works of educated men. Chapter 18. I was right to say that Origen allowed the use of falsehood. Chapter 19. The charge that I mistranslated Psalm 2 is easily explained. Chapter 20. In the difficulties a translator and a commentator face, we must get help wherever we can. Chapter 21. In the commentary on Ephesians I acted straightforwardly in giving the views of Origen and others. Chapter 22. On the passage “He has chosen us before the foundation of the world.” [d] Chapter 23. On the passage “Far above all rule and authority,” and so on. [e] Chapter 24. On the passage “That in the ages to come,” and so on. [f] Chapter 25. On “Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ.” [g] Chapter 26. On “The body fitly framed,” and so on. [h] Chapter 27. I quoted Origen’s views with the words, “According to another heresy.” Chapters 28 and 29. On “Men loving their wives as their own bodies.” Chapter 30. To the charge of reading secular books I reply that I remember what I learned in my youth. Chapter 31. Also, a promise made in a dream must not be pressed. Why should old friends rake up such things against one another? Chapter 32. I am right to hold that all sins are forgiven in baptism. [i]