Thus, if the word of Jesus fell, as far as it depended on us, not on the road and not among thorns, then we can glory in our hearts (2 Corinthians 10:17), and, therefore, we have understood those words; therefore the evil one will not snatch away what is sown in our hearts (Matt. 13:19). And that the seed did not fall among thorns, this will be testified by many, who see that neither the care of this world, nor the deception of riches, nor the pleasures of life could prevent the word of God from penetrating into our souls (Matt. 13:22; Mk. 4:19; Lk. 8:14). It remains only to ask: did the word of God fall in us on a stony place or on good soil? Because of this word, tribulation and persecution have now begun, and a time of great trial is approaching, when it will be revealed who sowed in a stony place (Matt. 13:20) he who did not penetrate into the depths and did not receive Jesus into the depths of his soul. On the contrary, whoever understands the word bears fruit, keeps that word in patience to the very end, and bears fruit a hundredfold (Matt. 13:23; Lk. 8:15). For we know what judgment the Scriptures pronounce about those who, having apparently joyfully accepted the holy teaching before, are offended in times of tribulation and persecution; and they are offended precisely because they have no root in themselves and hold faith only for a certain time. Matthew says: "He who sows in a stony place is he who hearkens to that word and immediately receives it with joy; but it has no root in itself and is inconstant; when tribulation or persecution comes for that word, immediately he is offended (Matt. 13:20-21). According to Mark: Those who sow in a stony place are those who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy, but have no root in themselves and are fickle; therefore, when tribulation or persecution comes for that word, they are immediately offended (Mark 4:16-17). And according to Luke: "And those who fall on a stone are those who, when they hear the word, gladly receive, but who have no root, and believe for a time, and fall away in the time of temptation" (Luke 8:13). Of those who bear proper fruit, the Scriptures teach as follows: "That which is sown in good ground signifies him who hears the word and understands, who also bears fruit a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty [seeds]" (Matt. 13:23). Or: "Sown in good land" means those who hear the word and receive and bear fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some a hundredfold (Mark 4:20). Or: Those who have fallen on good ground are those who, having heard the word, keep it in a beautiful and kind heart, and bear fruit in patience (Luke 8:15).

For, according to the Apostle, you are God's field, God's building (1 Cor. 3:9), and a field planted on good soil (Matt. 13:23); Since you are a building built on a cliff (Matt. 7:24), then as a building of God let us stand strong against the weather (Luke 6:48), and, being God's field, let us not grieve with grief, nor with sorrow and persecution, which come because of the word, nor with the amusements of this world, or with the deception of riches, or with the pleasures of life (Matt. 13:19-22; Mk. 4:15-19; Lk. 8:12). 14) - let us neglect all this. Having received into ourselves the spirit of wisdom free from worries (Ephesians 1:17), let us renew it in ourselves; let us strive for true wealth; let us hasten to the delightful garden of paradise (Gen. 2:8), being imbued with the thought that our momentary slight suffering will bring us eternal glory in immeasurable abundance, if we turn our gaze not to the visible, but to the invisible (2 Cor. 4:17-18).

[50] And it is important for us to know that the saying about Abel, who was killed by the murderer and evildoer Cain (Gen. 4:8), applies to all whose blood is shed innocently. Namely, we may think that the words, "The voice of thy brother cries out to Me from the earth" (Gen. 4:10), apply to all the martyrs, for the voice of their blood cries out from the earth to God. And just as we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus (1 Pet. 1:19; 1 Cor. 6:20), while He Himself received the name that is above every name (Phil. 2:9), so perhaps many will be redeemed by the blood of martyrs; but they themselves will be more exalted than if they were only righteous and not martyrs. This is the reason why, for the most part, a martyr's death is called exaltation, as is evident from the words: "When I am exalted from the earth, I will draw all men unto me" (John 12:32). Let us therefore glorify God also, exalting Him by our death, because the martyr glorifies God by his death. And this we are taught in the same way by John, who says: "Cue He spoke, giving us to understand by what death He would glorify God" (John 12:33; 21:19).

This, as far as I had strength, I could write to you, (Ambrose and Proctetus]; and I would only wish that this would benefit you in your present podvig. If, however, you, who have been vouchsafed, especially now, a deeper penetration into the Divine mysteries, think on this matter higher, more precious and more expedient, and therefore neglect my work belonging to you, as childish and of little value, then I wish you the same. For it is not important that the present object should be exhausted for you by us, but that it should be exhausted in any way. And how much better if it were expounded by the wisdom of God, and moreover in words more exalted, more intelligible, and surpassing all human talent!

About the Beginnings

Preface by Presbyter Rufinus to Origen's Books "On the Elements"

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 relation 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 determined 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 One

(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...")

Introduction

1. All those who believe and are convinced that grace and truth have come through Jesus Christ, and know that Christ is the truth, according to 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 very 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 even 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 under 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 enough for us in this case to use one testimony of St. Paul. Paul from the Epistle he wrote to the Hebrews, in which he says thus: "By faith Moses, who was great, denied to be called the son of the daughter of Pharaoh, rather suffer with the people of God, than have the temporal sweetness of sin, having imputed greater riches to the treasures of Egypt the reproach of Christ" (Hebrews 11:24-26). In the same way, after His ascension to heaven, Christ spoke in His apostles; This is shown by Ap. In this way: "Therefore do you seek temptation for Christ who speaketh in me" (2 Corinthians 13:3).

2. 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. on 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 believed that Christ is the Son of God, and were convinced that from Him we must learn the truth, 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 accordance with their predecessors; But we must preserve the Church's teaching, handed down from the Apostles through the order of succession, and which remains in the Churches even to this day: only that truth must be believed, which in no way departs from the Church and Apostolic Tradition.