Homilies on the Psalms: Codex Monacensis Graecus 314

by Origen, Joseph W. Trigg (Translator)

In 2012 Dr. Marina Marin Pradel, an archivist at the Bayerische Stattsbibliotek in Munich, discovered that a thick 12th-century Byzantine manuscript, Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, contained twenty-nine of Origen's Homilies on the Psalms , hitherto considered lost. Lorenzo Perrone of the University of Bologna, an internationally respected scholar of Origen, vouched for the identification and immediately began work on the scholarly edition that appeared in 2015 as the thirteenth volume of Origen's works in the distinguished Griechische Christlichen Schrifsteller series. In an introductory essay Perrone provided proof that the homilies are genuine and demonstrated that they are, astonishingly, his last known work. Live transcripts, these collection homilies constitute our largest collection of actual Christian preaching from the pre-Constantinian period.

In these homilies, the final expression of his mature thought, Origen displays, more fully than elsewhere, his understanding of the church and of deification as the goal of Christian life. They also give precious insights into his understanding of the incarnation and of human nature. They are the earliest example of early Christian interpretation of the Psalms, works at the heart of Christian spirituality. Historians of biblical interpretation will find in them the largest body of Old Testament interpretation surviving in his own words, not filtered through ancient translations into Latin that often failed to convey his intense philological acumen. Among other things, they give us new insights into the life of a third-century Greco-Roman metropolis, into Christian/Jewish relations, and into Christian worship.

This translation, using the GCS as its basis, seeks to convey, as faithfully as possible, Origen's own categories of thought. An introduction and notes relate the homilies to the theology and principles of interpretation in Origen's larger work and to that work's intellectual context and legacy.

480 pages, Hardcover

Published January 15, 2021

About the author

Origen of Alexandria (c. 184 – c. 253), also known as Origen Adamantius, was an early Christian scholar, ascetic, and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria. He was a prolific writer who wrote roughly 2,000 treatises in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism, biblical exegesis and biblical hermeneutics, homiletics, and spirituality. He was one of the most influential figures in early Christian theology, apologetics, and asceticism. He has been described as "the greatest genius the early church ever produced".

Reviews

[Christian Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Origen’s knowledge of the Scriptures never fails to amaze me. Throughout these homilies he often references the New Testament and pulls out constant parallels to the Psalms and the life of Christ. A fantastic read in understanding early church homiletics and for personal devotion.

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you want to get some sense of how Christian exegetes interpreted the Scriptures before all of the theological controversies of the Ecumenical Councils beginning in the 4th Century, Origen is a good person to read. He is the great biblical scholar of the 3rd Century and Christian martyr, who in those later centuries will be condemned by an Ecumenical Council. This book is a collection of Origen's commentaries on 10 Psalms and may be the only work of his which still exists in the Greek original. Otherwise, his writings exist only in translations into Latin. Origen is writing at a time when Christians still had to convince their fellow citizens of the Roman Empire that the Jewish Scriptures are relevant to them because they are God's word. Origen works the scriptural texts very hard to extract meaning that would have been relevant to his listeners. He readily admits that some scripture verses are difficult to understand and doesn't pretend that the bible is self-interpreting, rather more honestly admitting it is sometimes difficult to see a relevant meaning in some of the Old Testament texts. He also notes honestly when there are variations in the texts in different manuscripts and doesn't shy away from these problems but acknowledges them and continues to work to find a godly meaning in the text. He believes the text is God's word, so it has to mean something divine. He acknowledges when a text simply doesn't make sense as written, but is usually reluctant to impose a change on the text to 'correct' it, but will accept when other manuscripts try to correct such a problem. I will admit that sometimes I find his interpretations strained. He often takes a word, phrase, or sentence completely out of context and treats each almost as a sacred talisman. He readily notes when a text simply can't be read at face value for it to make sense or be worthy of God. But sometimes his exegesis is hard to accept. He loves to connect any one word to that same word in other biblical texts as a means of interpretation (scripture being used to understand scripture) but sometimes this is strained as the only connection between the texts is they have a common word. He is a rhetorician takes the longest route possible to get to his point.