Heracleon on “We worship”: aeon-companions and salvation from Judea
Heracleon takes “We worship” to mean those in an aeon and those who came with him: they, he says, knew whom they worshiped, and worshiped in truth.
On “salvation is from the Jews,” he says Christ was born in Judea, and from that nation salvation and the Word went out into the world. In the deeper sense he tells the story as if the Jews were images of those in the pleroma.
He ought, then, to show for each act of worship how it images what is in the pleroma — if they mean this not only in words but in truth.
Greek
Τὸ μέντοι γε · Ἡμεῖς προσκυνοῦμεν · ὁ Ἡρακλέων οἴεται εἶναι τοὺς ἐν αἰῶνι καὶ τοὺς σὺν αὐτῷ ἐλθόντας · οὗτοι, φησίν, ᾔδεσαν τίνι προσκυνοῦσιν, κατὰ ἀλήθειαν προσκυνοῦντες.
ἀλλὰ καὶ τό · Ὅτι ἡ σωτηρία ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστίν · ἐπεὶ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ, φησίν, ἐγενήθη, καὶ ἐξ ἐκείνου τοῦ ἔθνους ἐξῆλθεν ἡ σωτηρία καὶ ὁ λόγος εἰς τὴν οἰκουμένην · κατὰ δὲ τὸ νοούμενον ἐκ τῶν Ἰουδαίων σωτηρίαν διηγεῖται γεγονέναι ἐπείπερ εἰκόνες οὗτοι τῶν ἐν τῷ πληρώματι εἶναι νομίζονται.
ἐχρῆν δὲ αὐτὸν ἕκαστον τῶν ἐν τῇ λατρείᾳ δεικνύναι πῶς ἐστιν εἰκὼν τῶν ἐν πληρώματι, εἴγε μὴ μόνον φωνῇ τοῦτο λέγουσιν ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀληθείᾳ φρονοῦσιν αὐτό.
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.