Origen Allowed the Use of Falsehood

Our friends take it badly that I have described the Origenists as bound together by the secret rites of false oaths. I named the book in which I had found this written: the sixth book of Origen’s Miscellanies, in which he tries to fit our Christian teaching to the opinions of Plato. The words of Plato in the third book of the Republic are as follows: “Truth, said Socrates, is to be especially cultivated. But if, as I was saying just now, falsehood is disgraceful and useless to God, it is sometimes useful to men, provided it is used as a seasoning or a medicine. For no one can doubt that some such freedom in what they say must be allowed to physicians, though it must be kept out of the hands of the unskilled. That is quite true, came the reply; and if one grants that anyone may do this, it must be the duty of the rulers of states at times to tell lies, either to baffle the enemy or to benefit their country and its citizens. But for those who do not know how to make good use of falsehood, the practice should be altogether forbidden.” [a]

Now take the words of Origen: “When we consider the command, ‘Let each of you speak the truth with his neighbor,’ we need not ask, ‘Who is my neighbor?’ but we should weigh well the cautious remarks of the philosopher. He says that to God falsehood is shameful and useless, but to men it is sometimes useful. We must not suppose that God ever lies, not even by way of accommodation. Only, if the good of the hearer requires it, he speaks in ambiguous language and reveals what he wills in riddles. In this way he takes care both that the dignity of truth is preserved, and that what would do harm if laid bare before the crowd is wrapped in a veil and so disclosed. “But a man on whom necessity lays the duty of lying must take very great care. He must use falsehood as he would a seasoning or a medicine, keep strictly to its measure, and not go beyond the bounds Judith kept in her dealings with Holofernes, whom she overcame by the wisdom with which she disguised her words. He should act like Esther, who changed the purpose of Artaxerxes by having concealed the truth about her race for so long; and still more like the patriarch Jacob who, as we read, obtained his father’s blessing by cunning and falsehood. From all this it is clear that if we speak falsely for any purpose other than gaining some great good by it, we will be judged enemies of him who said, ‘I am the truth.’”

Origen wrote this, and none of us can deny it. And he wrote it in the book he addressed to the “mature,” his own disciples. His teaching is that the teacher may lie, but the disciple must not. The conclusion from this is that the man who is a good liar, and without hesitation sets before his brothers whatever fabrication comes into his mouth, shows himself to be an excellent teacher.