Heracleon on Jacob’s water as weak, temporary, worldly
Let us also look at Heracleon on the passage. He says that that life, and the opinion that went with it, had become weak, temporary, and failing; for it was worldly, he claims, and he thinks he proves its worldliness from the fact that Jacob’s flocks drank from it.
If by “weak, temporary, and failing” he meant knowledge in part — either knowledge from the Scriptures set beside the unspeakable words a human may not utter, or all the knowledge that now comes through a mirror and in a riddle, to be abolished when the perfect comes — we would not charge him. But if he says this to slander the ancient Scriptures, he is to be blamed.
He is not wrong when he says the water the Savior gives is from his Spirit and power. He goes astray, though, when he takes “will never thirst forever” as a lesson pointing only to life supplied from above, and cites as proof “Lord, give me this water, so that I may not thirst or keep coming here to draw,” as though the Samaritan woman had understood the saying in a merely bodily way and had simply voiced her own feeling.
Greek
Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ τὰ Ἡρακλέωνος εἰς τοὺς τόπους, ὅστις φησὶν ἄτονον καὶ πρόσκαιρον καὶ ἐπιλείπουσαν ἐκείνην γεγονέναι τὴν ζωὴν καὶ τὴν κατ’ αὐτὴν δόξαν· κοσμικὴ γάρ, φησίν, ἦν· καὶ οἴεται τοῦ κοσμικὴν αὐτὴν εἶναι ἀπόδειξιν φέρειν ἐκ τοῦ τὰ θρέμματα τοῦ Ἰακὼβ ἐξ αὐτῆς πεπωκέναι.
καὶ εἰ μὲν ἄτονον καὶ πρόσκαιρον καὶ ἐπιλείπουσαν ἐλάμβανεν τὴν ἐκ μέρους γνῶσιν, ἤτοι τὴν ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν συγκρίσει τῶν ἀρρήτων ῥημάτων ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι, ἢ πᾶσαν τὴν νῦν δι’ ἐσόπτρου καὶ ἐν αἰνίγματι γινομένην γνῶσιν καταργουμένην ὅταν ἔλθῃ τὸ τέλειον, οὐκ ἂν αὐτῷ ἐνεκαλέσαμεν· εἰ δὲ ὑπὲρ τοῦ διαβάλλειν τὰ παλαιὰ τοῦτο ποιεῖ, ἐγκλητέος ἂν εἴη.
ὃ δὲ δίδωσιν ὕδωρ ὁ σωτήρ φησιν εἶναι ἐκ τοῦ πνεύματος καὶ τῆς δυνάμεως αὐτοῦ, οὐ ψευδόμενος. πλανᾶται δὲ ἐκλαμβάνων τό· Οὐ μὴ διψήσῃ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα ὡς διδασκαλικὸν καὶ μηνυτικὸν τῆς ἄνωθεν χορηγουμένης ζωῆς, δεῖγμα φέρων τό· Ἡ γυνὴ λέγει αὐτῷ· Κύριε, δός μοι τοῦτο τὸ ὕδωρ, ἵνα μὴ διψῶ μηδὲ διέρχωμαι ἐνθάδε ἀντλεῖν — ὡς δῆθεν σωματικῶς νοησάσης τῆς Σαμαρείτιδος καὶ τὸ ἴδιον πάθος ἐκφηνάσης.
About this text
Origen’s Commentary on John, Book 13 (later tomoi). Complete on this page: §§1–64.
English follows Preuschen, Origenes Werke IV (GCS 10, 1903). Heine FOTC was not used as wording. This page is Book 13 §§1–64 of the later books (13, 19, 20, 28, 32).
Witnesses
- Copy-text Preuschen, Origenes Werke IV = GCS 10 (1903) (Greek · Book 13 §§1–64)
English is newly prepared for study from the stated edition. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.