I know that very many of the brethren, out of love for the study of the Holy Scriptures. The Scriptures asked certain men who knew Greek to translate Origen into Latin and make it accessible to the Latins. Of these men, our brother and companion, in fact, translated from Greek into Latin, at the request of Bishop Damasus, two discourses on the Song of Songs, and wrote such an eloquent and splendid preface to his work that he awakened in each of them a desire to read and eagerly study Origen. In this preface, he says that the words "The king brought me into his palaces" (Song of Songs 1:3) can be applied to Origen's soul, and he asserts that Origen, surpassing everyone else in his books, surpassed himself in his commentary on the Song of Songs. Here he promises to translate into Latin not only the commentary on the Song of Songs, but also many other works of Origen. But he, as I see it, in his fascinating style, has a broader goal – he wants to be the father of the word, not just a translator. And so we go on with the work which he began and tried, and we cannot, like him, express in the same elegant eloquence the words of so great a man. Wherefore I am afraid lest, through my skill, this man, whom he justly presents as the second after the Apostles to the Church's teacher of knowledge and wisdom, appear much inferior, because of the poverty of my word. I often thought about this, and therefore I was silent and did not agree to the frequent requests for translation from the brothers. But your perseverance, most faithful brother Macarius, is so great that even my inexperience cannot resist it. And so, in order not to hear any more of your urgent demands, I yielded, but quite contrary to my wishes, and at the same time I made it a rule to follow as far as possible the method of my predecessors in translation, and chiefly the method of the man I mentioned above. He translated into Latin more than seventy works of Origen, which he called discourses, and several of those volumes that were written on the Apostle. In these translations – although there are some tempting passages in the Greek text – he corrected everything in such a way, smoothed it out in translation, that the Latin reader will not find anything in them that would not be in agreement with our faith. It is this which we also follow, as far as possible, not in regard to the qualities of eloquence, but only in the rules of translation: it is we who observe in order not to translate what is in the books of Origen that does not agree and contradicts these same books. And why such a disagreement occurs in them, we have explained to you more fully in the Apology written by Pamphilus in defense of Origen, namely, in that short appendix where, I think, we have proved by obvious arguments that the books of Origen have been corrupted in very many places by heretics and ill-intentioned people, especially the work which you now ask me to translate, that is, the work "On the Elements." or "On the Authorities". In fact, this work is very obscure and very difficult in places. In it, Origen discusses subjects about which philosophers could find nothing in the course of their entire lives; and this philosopher of ours, as far as he could, turned faith in the Creator and the knowledge of creatures, which philosophers had turned to impiety, to piety. When, therefore, we found in his books anything contrary to what he himself had piously defined about the Trinity in other places, we either omitted this passage as distorted and spurious, or expounded it in accordance with the rule which he himself often affirms in his writings. And when he speaks as if to experienced and knowledgeable people, and at the same time expresses his thoughts briefly, and consequently obscurely, in order to clarify such passages more clearly, we have tried to interpret them and added to them what we have read on the same subject in a clearer form in his other books. However, we did not say anything of our own, but only added to his own words what he said in other places. I have expressed all this in the preface, so that the slanderers may not think again of finding a pretext for accusation. However, later it will be seen what wicked and quarrelsome people do. By the way, this great work – of course, on the condition that through your prayers there will be God's help – was undertaken by us not at all with the aim of shutting the mouths of slanderers – this is even impossible, although perhaps God will do this – but in order to give an aid to those who wish to improve themselves in the knowledge of things. Whosoever shall copy or read books, in the presence of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, I adjure and beseech by faith in the kingdom to come, and also by the mystery of the resurrection from the dead, by the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (let him not inherit forever the place where weeping and gnashing of teeth, and where their fire is not quenched, and their worm does not die), I adjure and beseech him: let him add nothing to this Scripture, let him not subtract, introduce or change anything in it, but let him compare it with the copies from which he will copy, let him literally correct and compare it, and let him not have a code that is uncorrected or unverified. Otherwise, the defect of the code, with the difficulty of understanding it, will serve as a cause of even greater ambiguity for the readers.

Book 1

(Eusebius "Against Marcellus": "All who believe that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ and that Christ is truth, according to His words: 'I am the truth...'")

All those who believe and are convinced that grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ, and know that Christ is the truth, in His own words: "I am the truth" (John 14:6), will draw the knowledge that calls people to a good and blessed life, not from any other source, but from the words and teachings of Christ. By the words of Christ we do not mean only those which He proclaimed when He became man and took on flesh: for before Christ, the Word of God, was in Moses and the prophets, and without the Word of God, how could they prophesy about Christ? In order to confirm this proposition, it would not be difficult to prove on the basis of the Divine Scriptures that both Moses and the prophets did everything they said and did by the inspiration of the Spirit of Christ, if only we were not hampered by the task of writing this work with all possible brevity. Therefore, I think it is sufficient for us in this case to use one of the testimonies of the Apostle Paul from the Epistle he wrote to the Hebrews, in which he says thus: "By faith Moses, when he came of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, and would rather suffer with the people of God than have temporary, sinful pleasure, and considered the reproach of Christ to be greater riches for himself than the treasures of Egypt, for he looked to the recompense" (Hebrews 11:24-26). In the same way, after His ascension to heaven, Christ spoke in His apostles; this is shown by the Apostle Paul in the following way: "You seek proof of whether Christ speaks in me" (2 Corinthians 13:3).

Since many of those who profess to believe in Christ disagree not only on the smallest and most insignificant, but also on the great and the greatest, i.e. in questions either about God, or about the Lord Jesus Christ, or about the Holy Spirit. And not only of these (beings), but also of other creatures, that is, either of dominions or of holy powers, it seems for this reason that it seems necessary first to establish a precise boundary and a definite rule about each of these things, and only then to ask about the rest. It is true that among the Greeks and barbarians many promised the truth; but we, after we had believed that Christ was the Son of God, and having been convinced that we must learn the truth from Him, ceased to seek it from all of them, since they contain the truth together with false opinions. It is also true that there are many people who arrogate to themselves the knowledge of Christian truth, and some of them do not think in agreement with their predecessors; But we must preserve the Church's teaching, handed down from the Apostles through the order of succession and abiding in the Churches even to this day: only that truth must be believed which in no way departs from the Church and Apostolic Tradition.

At the same time, it should be known that the holy apostles, preaching the faith of Christ, communicated very clearly to all about certain subjects exactly what they recognized as necessary, even to those who seemed comparatively less active in the search for divine knowledge; moreover, they left the foundation of their teaching in this case to those who could deserve the highest gifts of the Spirit, and especially to those who were vouchsafed to receive from the Holy Spirit himself the grace of word, wisdom and understanding. As for the other subjects, the Apostles only said that they existed, but – how or why, they kept silent, of course, in order that they might have exercise and thus show the fruits of their minds, the most zealous and wisdom-loving among the successors, those of them who would become worthy and capable of receiving the truth.

The apostolic teaching, clearly transmitted, is reduced to the following propositions. First, that there is one God, Who created and created all things, and Who brought all things from non-existence into existence, God from the first creation and the creation of the world, the God of all the righteous: Adam, Abel, Seth, Enos, Enoch, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, Moses, and the prophets; and that this God, in the last days, in accordance with what he had promised before through his prophets, sent our Lord Jesus Christ to call first Israel, and then the Gentiles, after the betrayal of the people of Israel. This God, the righteous and good Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, gave the law, and the prophets, and the gospel; He is also the God of the Apostles, the God of the Old and New Testaments. Then (Church tradition teaches) that Jesus Christ Himself, who came, was born of the Father before all creation. He served the Father in the creation of all things, for "all things were made through Him" (John 1:3); but in the last times, having humbled Himself, He became incarnate, becoming man, although He was God, and, having become man, He remained what He was before, i.e. God. He took on a body similar to our body, with the only difference that it was born of the Virgin and the Holy Spirit. Spirit. This Jesus Christ was born and suffered truly, and this common death was subjected not illusory, but truly; verily He rose from the dead, after His resurrection He dealt with His disciples, and ascended. Further, the Apostles conveyed that in relation to honor and dignity he partook of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit. Spirit. At the same time, it is impossible to clearly see whether the Holy Spirit is born or not. Spirit? Should He be considered the Son or not? And these questions must be investigated to the best of one's ability on the basis of the Holy Scriptures. Scriptures and to be solved through careful research. However, it was this Spirit that inspired each of the saints, both apostles and prophets; one and the same, and not different, Spirit was in the ancients, and in those who were inspired at the coming of Christ. This is preached with complete clarity in the churches.

After this (Church tradition teaches) that the soul, having its own substance and life, on leaving this world will receive a reward according to its merits: it will either receive the inheritance of eternal life and blessedness, if its deeds help it, or it will be given over to eternal fire and punishment, if its guilt of crimes plunges it into this. Church tradition also teaches that the time of the resurrection of the dead will come, when this body, now sown in corruption, will rise in incorruption, and sown in humiliation, will rise in glory (1 Corinthians 15:42-43). In the Church's teaching it is also determined that every rational soul possesses freedom of decision and will and must endure the struggle against the devil and his angels and opposing forces; because they try to burden it with sins, and we, if we live rightly and prudently, try to free ourselves from such a burden. Hence the understanding that we are not subject to the compulsory necessity of doing good or evil against our will. Of course, even if we have freedom, some powers may have the ability to incite us to sin, and others to help us to salvation; Yet we are not necessarily compelled to act well or badly, as those think, who regard the course and movements of the stars as the cause of human affairs, not only those which are done without the freedom of the will, but also those which are in our power. But in Church tradition it is not clearly indicated with regard to the soul whether it comes from a seed, so that its essence or substance is contained in the bodily seeds themselves, or whether it has some other beginning, and this very principle is born or unborn, or perhaps the soul enters the body from without?

О дьяволе и ангелах его и о противных силах церковное предание учит, что они во всяком случае существуют; но каковы они или как существуют – этого предание не излагает в достаточной степени ясно. Однако весьма многие держатся того мнения, что этот дьявол был прежде ангелом и, сделавшись отступником, убедил уклониться вместе с собою многих других ангелов, которые и теперь еще называются ангелами его.

Кроме того, в церковном предании содержится еще то, что этот мир сотворен и начал существовать с известного времени и, по причине своей порчи, должен быть спасен. Но что было прежде этого мира или что будет после него, это для многих остается неизвестным, потому что в церковном учении не говорится об этом ясно.

Затем, церковное предание учит, что Писания написаны Св. Духом и имеют не только открытый смысл, но и некоторый другой, скрытый от большинства, ибо описанное здесь служит предначертанием некоторых таинств и образом божественных знаний. Вся церковь одинаково учит о том, что весь закон духовен; но духовный смысл закона известен не всем, а только тем, кому подается благодать Святого Духа в слове премудрости и знания. Название же бестелесного не известно и не упоминается не только у многих других (писателей), но и в наших Писаниях. Если же кто укажет нам в таком случае на книжку, называемую «Учение Петра», где Спаситель, кажется, говорит ученикам: «Я – не демон бестелесный», – то, во-первых, мы должны ответить ему, что эта книга не принадлежит к числу церковных книг, и потом показать, что это писание не принадлежит ни Петру, ни какому-нибудь другому боговдохновенному писателю. Но если даже и это оставить в стороне, все равно слово (асоматон) в «Учении Петра» имеет не тот смысл, какой соединяют с ним греки и язычники при своих философских рассуждениях о бестелесной природе. В этой книжке демон назван бестелесным в том смысле, что свойство и вид демонского тела, каково бы ни было это свойство, не похоже на это грубейшее и видимое тело, и, конечно, это название должно понимать сообразно с мыслью того, кто составил это сочинение, а именно: Он (Спаситель) имеет не такое тело, какое имеют демоны, т. е. не такое, которое по природе тонко и легко, как воздух, и потому многими или считается, или называется бестелесным, но имеет тело плотное и осязаемое. Действительно, простые и неопытные люди все такое и называют обыкновенно бестелесным; так, кто-нибудь может назвать бестелесным, например, этот воздух, которым мы пользуемся, потому что он не есть такое тело, которое можно схватить и держать, и не обладает упругостью.

Однако мы поищем, нет ли в Св. Писании под другим именем того самого понятия,, какое греческие философы обозначают словом (асоматон). Должно также рассмотреть, как нужно мыслить Бога, телесным ли и имеющим некоторую форму или же с иной природой, сравнительно с телом, потому что это не обозначено ясно в нашем учении. То же самое должно исследовать и о Христе, и о Святом Духе, а также и о всякой душе, и тем более о всяком разумном существе.

В церковном учении содержится еще то, что существуют некоторые ангелы Божьи и добрые силы, которые служат Богу при устроении спасения людей; но когда они сотворены, или каковы они, или как существуют – это не обозначается с достаточною ясностью. О солнце же, луне и звездах не передано ясно, одушевлены ли они или без души. Итак, кто желает на основании всего этого построить одно органическое целое, тому по заповеди: «Просветите себе свет ведения» (Ос. 10.12), должно воспользоваться этим как элементами и основаниями, чтобы на основе ясных и необходимых положений о каждом предмете исследовать, что он такое на самом деле, и, как мы сказали, образовать единый организм из примеров и положений, какие он или найдет в Св. Писании, или получит путем правильного умозаключения.