NOTES
24 25
26 27
28 29 30
31 32 33
34
35
“word”) and dunamis (“power”), taken from Paul, echoes the contrast between logos and ergon (“word” and “deed”) that is a commonplace in Classical Greek literature. Note how Origen, many years later, elaborated on this theme in CJn 32.78–83 below. Greek kat’epinoian. For a discussion of epinoiai, see J. Wolinski, “Le recours aux επινοιαι du Christ dans le Commentaire de Jean d’Origène,” in Origeniana Sexta, pp. 465–92. John A. McGuckin makes the fascinating suggestion that the fourteen epinoiai from John listed in 9 and 21 determined the scope of his entire commentary. See “Structural Design and Apologetic Intent in Origen’s Commentary on John,” in Origeniana Sexta, pp. 441–57. See CGen 15, n. 12. This appears to be an allusion to the cosmology of Peri Archon. How is the “joy which shall be to all people” also a “glory” “when those who have been humbled to the ground return to their rest”? Most likely Origen had in mind the glory that occurs in souls that are divinized as a result of their contemplation of God; see CJn 32.138–40, translated below. Such souls “return” to the original unity with God that they lost in a pre-cosmic fall. Neither Greek nor Hebrew distinguishes between the words meaning “messenger” and “angel”. This is the characteristic position of the Gnostics, including Heracleon. See chapter 1, p. 8. Precisely because of this wide range of meaning, the Greek word archê cannot be translated by a single English word. In the paragraphs below it is translated either as “beginning” or “principle”. It also means “rule” in the sense of “control”. Cécile Blanc (SC 120 bis, p. 114, n. 1) points out that, in the course of these few paragraphs, Origen examines archê in terms of the four causes recognized by Aristotle: efficient, the “by which” of 110–11; material, the “from which” of 103; formal, the “in accordance with which” of 104–5; and final, the “end” here. This distinction, and the priorities implied, is fundamental to Origen’s understanding of the Christian life. Greek apokatastasis. Here Origen does employ this term often associated with him. Origen believed that the sun, along with other heavenly bodies, was animated. In On First Principles 1.7.5 he applies Romans 8:20–22 and Philippians 1:24, cited here, to the heavenly bodies. See Alan Scott, Origen and the Life of the Stars: A History of an Idea, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1991. Greek dêmiourgos. This term, meaning “artisan” (literally “one who works for the people”), was applied by Plato (Timaeus 40c) to the Creator of the world. Gnostics used it to refer to an inferior CreatorGod, identified with the God of the Old Testament and distinct from the God of the New Testament who is the Father of Jesus Christ. Here Origen appropriates the term to designate the Son as the one “through whom all things were made.” That is, Aristotelians and most contemporary Platonists.
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