ORIGEN

TREATISE ON THE PASSOVER

and

DIALOGUE OF ORIGEN

WITH HERACLIDES AND

HIS FELLOW BISHOPS ON

THE FATHER, THE SON,

AND THE SOUL

translated and annotated

by

ROBERT J. DALY, S.J.

Boston College

PAULIST PRESS

New York, N.Y./Mahwah, N.J.

COPYRIGHT © 1992

BY

THE NEW ENGLAND PROVINCE OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Origen.

[Peri Pascha. English]

Treatise on the Passover: and, Dialogue with Heraclides / Origen; translated and annotated by Robert. J. Daly.

vi + 121 p. 21.5 × 13.5 cm — (Ancient Christian Writers; no. 54)

Translation of: Peri Pascha and Dialogue with Heraclides.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8091-0452-0

1. Bible. O.T. Exodus XII, 1–11—Commentaries. 2. Passover—Early works to 1800. 3. Jesus Christ—Passion. 4. Jesus Christ—Divinity. 5. Trinity—Early works to 1800. 6. Man (Christian theology)—Early works to 1800. 7. Immortality—Christianity—Early works to 1800. I. Daly, Robert J., 1933–. II. Origen. Dialogue with Heraclides. English. 1992. III. Title: Treatise on the Passover. IV. Title: Dialogue with Heraclides. V. Series.

BR60.A35 vol. 54

[BS1245]

270 s—dc20

[230′. 13]

91-33319

CIP

The Biblical quotations in this publication are for the most part from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1946, 1952 © 1971, 1973 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A., and used by permission.

Published by Paulist Press

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Ancient Christian Writers

THE WORKS OF THE FATHERS IN TRANSLATION

edited by

WALTER J. BURGHARDT

THOMAS COMERFORD LAWLER

JOHN J. DILLON

No. 54

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

General Introduction

Treatise on the Passover

Dialogue of Origen with Heraclides and His Fellow Bishops on the Father, the Son, and the Soul

TEXTS

Treatise on the Passover

Dialogue of Origen with Heraclides and His Fellow Bishops on the Father, the Son, and the Soul

List of Abbreviations

Select Bibliography

INTRODUCTION

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

In August, 1941, at Tura, some dozen kilometers south of Cairo, while work was underway to clear rubbish from a limestone cave, formerly a Pharaonic quarry, in preparation for the storage of munitions for the British army, a small papyrus library of works by Origen (ca. 185–251/5) and Didymus the Blind (313–398) was discovered. In all likelihood, they had come from a former Greek monastery, abandoned since the eleventh century, whose ruins are situated on the plateau above the cave. How the codices found their way into the cave can only be conjectured. However, both Origen and Didymus were among those condemned as heretical at the Council of Constantinople in 553, and the condition in which the codices were found (the covers had been removed as if for use elsewhere) suggests that it was not for the purpose of safekeeping and preservation that they were put or thrown into the cave. It is, thus, a logical conjecture that the monks themselves had thrown ...