They will seek death; Balaam; perhaps not always mortal
Origen went on: This death no human soul dies. For if it died, it would not be punished after death. Human beings, he says, will seek death and will not find it. For the souls being punished will seek death; they will want rather not to be than to be and be punished. For this reason human beings will seek death and will not find it. According to this signification every human soul is immortal.
But according to the remaining significations, according to the one the soul is mortal, and blessed if it dies to sin. About this death Balaam, prophesying, spoke, praying in a divine spirit: May my soul die in the souls of the righteous. About this death Balaam prophesied in a strange way, and he prayed the finest things for himself in the word of God. For he prayed to die to sin in order to live to God. And for this reason he said: May my soul die in the souls of the righteous, and may my seed be as the seed of these.
And there is another death, according to which we are not immortal, but we are able, from keeping watch, not to die. And perhaps the mortal of the soul is not always mortal. For so long as it admits of sinning such a sin that it becomes the soul that sins, it shall die, the soul is mortal of the real death. But if it comes to be in firmness of blessedness so as to be incapable of death, the one that has the eternal life is no longer mortal, but has become immortal according to this signification too.
Greek
ἀποθνῄσκει· εἰ γὰρ ἀπέθνῃσκεν, οὐκ ἂν ἐκολάζετο μετὰ τὸν θάνατον. «Ζητήσουσιν, φησίν, οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸν θάνατον καὶ οὐχ εὑρήσουσιν αὐτόν.». Αἱ γὰρ κολαζόμεναι ψυχαὶ ζητήσουσιν τὸν θάνατον, θελήσουσιν μᾶλλον εἰ μὴ ἔσονται ἤπερ ἵνα ὦσιν μέν, κολάζωνται δέ· διὰ τοῦτο «ζητήσουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸν θάνατον καὶ οὐ μὴ εὑρήσουσιν αὐτόν». Κατὰ τοῦτο τὸ σημαινόμενον πᾶσα ἡ ψυχὴ ἡ ἀνθρωπίνη ἀθάνατος. Κατὰ δὲ τὰ λοιπὰ τὰ σημαινόμενα, κατὰ μὲν τὸ ἕτερον θνητὴ ψυχή, καὶ μακαρία ἐὰν ἀποθάνῃ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ.
Περὶ τούτου τοῦ θανάτου Βαλαὰμ προφητεύων ἔλεγεν εὐχόμενος ἐν πνεύματι θείῳ· «Ἀποθάνοι ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν ψυχαῖς δικαίων.». Περὶ τούτου τοῦ θανάτου παραδόξως ἐπροφήτευσεν ὁ Βαλαάμ, καὶ ἑαυτῷ ἐν λόγῳ Θεοῦ τὰ κάλλιστα ηὔχετο· ηὔχετο γὰρ τῇ ἁμαρτίᾳ ἀποθανεῖν ἵνα ζήσῃ τῷ Θεῷ· καὶ διὰ τοῦτο ἔλεγεν· «Ἀποθάνοι ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν ψυχαῖς δικαίων, καὶ γένοιτο τὸ σπέρμα μου ὡς τὸ σπέρμα τούτων.». Ἄλλος δὲ θάνατος ἔστιν, καθ' ὃν οὐκ ἐσμὲν μὲν ἀθάνατοι, δυνάμεθα δὲ ἐκ τοῦ φυλάττεσθαι μὴ ἀποθανεῖν.
Καὶ τάχα τὸ θνητὸν τῆς ψυχῆς οὐκ ἀεί ἐστιν θνητόν· ὅσον μὲν γὰρ ἐπιδέχεται τὸ ἁμαρτάνειν τοιαύτην ἁμαρτίαν ὥστε γενέσθαι «ψυχὴ ἡ ἁμαρτάνουσα αὐτὴ ἀποθανεῖται», θνητὴ τοῦ ὄντως θανάτου ἐστὶν ἡ ψυχή· ἐὰν δὲ γένηται