His Extravagant Praise of Origen

But why should I drag out this discussion? I will take no notice of his reproaches and abuse. I will make no answer to his violent attacks, that daily task of his for which Porphyry sharpened his pen. For I have chosen Jesus, not Barabbas, as my master, and he has taught me to be silent when I am insulted. I will come to the point, and show how much truth there is in the excuses for himself and the accusations against me that he has heaped together. He says that he was only ever known to praise Origen in two short prefaces; that his praise covered only Origen’s work as an interpreter of Scripture, in which nothing is said about doctrine or the faith; and that in the parts of Origen’s works he himself has translated there is absolutely nothing of the kind he now rebukes, in the interest of the synagogue rather than for the building up of Christians. One would think it ought to be enough to silence him that he blames in the books of others the very things he set out in his own. Still, let us see how far these other claims of his are true. In the preface to Origen’s commentaries on Ezekiel, which are contained in fourteen homilies, or short addresses, he writes to a certain Vincentius: [a] “It is a great thing you ask of me, my friend: that I should translate Origen into Latin, and present to Roman ears a man of whom we may say, in the words of Didymus the Seer, that he was a teacher of the churches second only to the apostles.” [c] And a little further on he adds: “For your information I will say briefly that Origen’s works on the whole of Scripture are of three kinds. First come the Excerpts, or Notes, called in Greek scholia, in which he touches briefly and in summary on whatever seemed to him obscure or difficult. The second kind is the homilies, of which the present commentary is a sample. The third kind is what he called Tomes, or, as we say, Volumes. In this part of his work he spreads every sail of his genius to the wind, and leaving the land behind, he sails away into the open sea. “I know that you want me to translate his writings of every kind. I have already given the reason why this is impossible. But I promise you this: if, through your prayers, Jesus gives me back my health, I mean to translate, I will not say all, for that would be rash, but a great many of them, on the condition I have often set you, that I supply the words and you the secretary.” [d]