From dogs, swine, serpents; fruits of repentance
Origen went on: And it is possible to be transformed from serpents. For an evil human being is called a serpent and offspring of vipers. If then we want to hear that it is in us to be transformed from serpents, from swine, from dogs, let us learn from the apostle the transformation that is in our power. For he says thus: And we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image.
If you were a barker and the Word formed you and remade you, you have been transformed from a dog into a human being. If you were unclean and the Word reached your soul and you offered yourself to the Word's forming, you have changed from a swine into a human being. If you were beast-like, hearing a word that tames, that domesticates, that changes you into a human being at the will of the Word, you will no longer hear serpent, offspring of vipers. For if it were impossible for these serpents — the serpents according to the soul through vice — to change, the Savior would not have said (or John): Make fruits worthy of repentance, then. Having repented you are no longer a serpent, offspring of vipers.
Since, then, it lies before us to speak about the human being, and to inquire about the soul of the human being whether it is not blood, and the word has required us to arrive at the account of two men in each person, and we have come to a mystical word, we ask you that I may not be charged because of you with throwing the pearls to swine, the holy things to dogs, with casting the divine things to the serpents, with giving a share of the tree of life to the serpent.
Greek
μεταμορφωθῆναι ἀπὸ ὄφεων· πονηρὸς γὰρ ἄνθρωπος ἀκούει «ὄφις» καὶ «γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν»· εἰ τοίνυν θέλομεν ἀκούειν ὅτι ἐν ἡμῖν ἔστιν μεταμορφωθῆναι ἀπὸ ὄφεων, ἀπὸ χοίρων, ἀπὸ κυνῶν, μάθωμεν ἀπὸ τοῦ ἀποστόλου τὴν ἐφ' ἡμῖν μεταμόρφωσιν. Φησὶν γὰρ οὕτως· «Ἡμεῖς δὲ πάντες ἀνακεκαλυμμένῳ προσώπῳ τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου κατοπτριζόμενοι τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα μεταμορφούμεθα.». Εἰ ὑλακτικὸς ἦς καὶ ὁ λόγος σε ἔπλασεν καὶ μετεποίησέν σε, μετεμορφώθης ἀπὸ κυνὸς εἰς ἄνθρωπον.
Εἰ ἀκάθαρτος ἦς καὶ ὁ λόγος καθίκετό σου τῆς ψυχῆς καὶ παρέσχες σεαυτὸν τῇ τοῦ λόγου πλάσει, μετέβαλες ἀπὸ χοίρου εἰς ἄνθρωπον. Εἰ θηριώδης ἦς, ἀκούων λόγον τὸν ἡμεροῦντα, τὸν τιθασσεύοντα, τὸν εἰς ἄνθρωπόν σε μεταβάλλοντα ἐπὶ τῷ βουλήματι τοῦ λόγου, οὐκέτι ἀκούσει «ὄφις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν». Οὐκ ἂν γὰρ εἰ ἀδύνατον ἦν τοὺς ὄφεις τούτους, <τοὺς> κατὰ ψυχὴν διὰ κακίαν ὄφεις, μεταβαλεῖν, ὁ Σωτὴρ ἔλεγεν (ἢ ὁ Ἰωάννης)· «Ποιήσατε οὖν καρποὺς ἀξίους τῆς μετανοίας.». Μετανοήσας οὐκέτι εἶ «ὄφις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν».
Ἐπεὶ τοίνυν περὶ ἀνθρώπου πρόκειται λέγειν, καὶ περὶ τῆς ψυχῆς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ζητεῖν εἰ μή ἐστιν αἷμα, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἡμᾶς ἀπῄτησε φθάσαι ἐπὶ τὸν περὶ δύο ἀνθρώπων καθ' ἕκαστον λόγον, καὶ ἤλθομεν ἐπὶ λόγον μυστικόν, παρακαλοῦμεν ὑμᾶς ἵνα μὴ ἐγκληθῶ δι' ὑμᾶς ὡς τοὺς μαργαρίτας χοίροις, ὡς τὰ ἅγια κυσὶ