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Origen: On the Resurrection (Fragment)

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Origen of Alexandria (c. 185–c. 254) wrote a treatise On the Resurrection in two books at Alexandria. It is now lost. This fragment was quoted by Methodius of Olympus in his dialogue on the resurrection, which was written against Origen's views, and it survives because Epiphanius copied that material into his Panarion (chapter 64). It discusses the parable of Lazarus and the rich man and the appearance of Samuel, and what they imply about the soul's form after death. A short further excerpt concerns the risen being like the angels.

The fragment is a rare direct witness to Origen's teaching on the resurrection body, a topic on which he was sharply criticised. It shows him contrasting 'simpler' literal readings with more careful ones. It also shows how his ideas reached later readers largely through the quotations of opponents.

About this edition. The Greek text comes from the Eulogikon open corpus of public-domain editions (standard reference: PG 11.96). Every word has been analyzed with odyCy, a neural language model for Ancient Greek — click or tap any word for its dictionary form, part of speech, and complete morphology, together with the full entry from the Liddell–Scott–Jones Greek–English Lexicon (LSJ).

Ancient Greek · Early Christian Writings
On the Resurrection (Fragment)
Origen · every word parsed
11 96
Περὶ τοῦ Λαζάρου καὶ τοῦ πλουσίου ἀπορεῖσθαι δύναται· τῶν μὲν ἁπλουστέρων οἰομένων ταῦτα λελέχθαι, ὡς ἀμφοτέρων μετὰ τῶν σωμάτων λαμβανόντων τὰ ἄξια τῶν τῷ βίῳ πεπραγμένων· τῶν δὲ ἀκριβεστέρων, ἐπεὶ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάστασιν οὐδεὶς ἐν βίῳ καταλείπεται, οὐκ ἐν τῇ ἀναστάσει οἰομένων ταῦτα γεγονέναι· λέγει γὰρ ὁ πλούσιος, ὅτι «πέντε ἀδελφοὺς ἔχω, καὶ ἵνα μὴ ἔλθωσιν εἰς τὸν τόπον τοῦτον τῆς βασάνου, πέμψον Λάζαρον ἀπαγγέλλοντα αὐτοῖς τὰ ἐνταῦθα·» καὶ διὰ τούτων ζητούντων τὴν γλῶσσαν, καὶ τὸν δάκτυλον, καὶ τοὺς κόλπους Ἀβραὰμ, καὶ τὴν ἀνάκλισιν. Καὶ τάχα τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἅμα τῇ ἀπαλλαγῇ σχῆμα ὁμοειδὲς ὂν τῷ παχεῖ καὶ γηΐνῳ σώματι δύναται οὕτως λαμβάνεσθαι. Εἴ ποτε γοῦν ἱστόρηταί τις τῶν κεκοιμημένων φαινόμενος, ὅμοιος ἑώραται τῷ ὅτε τὴν σάρκα εἶχε σχήματι. Εἶτα· Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ Σαμουὴλ φαινόμενος, ὡς δῆλόν ἐστιν, ὁρατὸς ὢν, παρίστησιν ὅτι σῶμα περιέκειτο· μάλιστα ἐὰν ἀναγκασθῶμεν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποδείξεων τὴν οὐσίαν τῆς ψυχῆς ἀσώματον εἶναι καὶ ταύτην ἀποφήνασθαι. Ἀλλὰ καὶ ὁ κολαζόμενος πλούσιος, καὶ ὁ ἐν κόλποις Ἀβραὰμ πένης ἀναπαυόμενος, πρὸ τῆς παρουσίας τοῦ Σωτῆρος καὶ πρὸ τῆς συντελείας τοῦ αἰῶνος, καὶ διὰ τοῦτο πρὸ τῆς ἀναστάσεως λεγόμενοι ὁ μὲν ἐν ᾅδου κολάζεσθαι, ὁ δὲ ἐν κόλποις Ἀβραὰμ ἀναπαύεσθαι, διδάσκουσιν ὅτι καὶ νῦν τῇ ἀπαλλαγῇ σώματι χρῆται ἡ ψυχή. Ἐκ τῶν Μεθοδίου. Φράσας (Ὠριγένης) ἀποφήνασθαι τὸν Κύριον, ὡς «οἱ τῆς ἀναστάσεως τευξόμενοι ἔσονται τότε ὡς ἄγγελοι,» ἔνθα πειράζουσιν αὐτὸν οἱ Σαδδουκαῖοι, ἐπέφερεν· «Οἱ δὲ ἄγγελοι ἐκτὸς ὄντες σαρκὸς ἐν μακαριότητος ἀκρότητι, διὰ τοῦτο καὶ δόξης εἰσί· καὶ ἡμᾶς δὲ ἄρα ἐξισάζεσθαι μέλλοντας ἀγγέλοις ἀνάγκη δὴ σαρκῶν ὡσαύτως ἐκείνοις γυμνοὺς ἔσεσθαι δεῖν.» [35]
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Text: Perseus Digital Library, licensed CC BY-SA. Dictionary: Liddell, Scott & Jones (Perseus, CC BY-SA). Morphology: odyCy — machine parsing, corrected against the AGDT & PROIEL treebanks and Morpheus.
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