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In Search of Origen's Commentary on Philemon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

Ronald E. Heine
Ronald E. Heine
Affiliation:
Institut zur Erforschung des Urchristentums
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Extract

In a letter to Paula, in which he includes a list of Origen's Pauline commentaries, Jerome refers to a commentary on Philemon. There is no extant Greek manuscript tradition of this commentary by Origen. There are also no Greek fragments attributed to Origen in the catena commentary on Philemon edited by Cramer from the eleventh-century codex Parisinus Coislin 204. The Codex von der Goltz, which has provided helpful information on some of Origen's other Pauline commentaries, has only two brief, marginal references to Origen on the textual reading of Philemon at verses 10 and 12. The only known portion of Origen's commentary on Philemon that has been preserved is a fragment of his comments on Philemon 5 in Rufinus's Latin translation of In Apologeticum S. Pamphili.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 93 , Issue 2 , April 2000 , pp. 117 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2000

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References

1 , JeromeEp. 33.4 (CSEL 54, 257.6-7).Google Scholar

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7 , Nautin, “La date,” 5–12Google Scholar ; , Bammel, “Pauluskommentare,” 187.Google Scholar

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15 , Callahan, “Paul's Epistle to Philemon,” 365.Google Scholar The statement is not completely accurate, for Rufinus did not translate Origen's commentary on Philemon. The reference is to the fragment from Origen's commentary on Philemon in Rufinus's Latin translation of the In Apologeticum S. Pamphili.

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17 Ibid., n. 44. She also notes that, depending on “their origin and provenance,” the Marcionite prologues may also support a third-century date for the understanding of Onesimus as a slave (ibid., n. 46).

18 See n. 6 above.

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20 Zahn, Theodor, Geschichte des neutestamentlichen Kanons (2 vols.; 1888-1890; reprinted Hildesheim: Georg 01ms, 1975) 2. 997–1006.Google Scholar

21 Ibid., 1002. The passages cited by Origen, Zahn areHorn. Num. 16.4Google Scholar and Comm. in John 1.5 (GCS 1.15-16).

22 Ibid., 1002-3.

23 Ibid., 1003. Zahn provides no references in support of no. 1. For no. 2 he refers to Hom, Isa. 3.2; Hom. Num. 6.3 and Comm. in John 2.6 (GCS 2.84-85). To these should be added Comm. in John 6.220 and 13.405. In the latter passage the “remaining” is referred to as a “sign” as here and in the passage in Hom. Isa. For no. 3 Zahn provides numerous references scattered throughout Origen's works.

24 Ibid., 1003-6.

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26 PL 26. 743-44 (Vallarsi).

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31 See the discussion of the prophecy of Caiaphas in his Comm. in John below.

32 See Baskin, J. R. (“Origen on Balaam: The Dilemma of the Unworthy Prophet,” VC 37 [1983] 24)Google Scholar , who cites evidence from , Philo and , Plato, and Feldman, L.H. (“Prophets and Prophecy in Josephus,” JTS 41 [1990] 395)Google Scholar , who cites evidence from Josephus.

33 , OrigenComm. in John 28.122.Google Scholar

34 , OrigenHom. Isa. 3.1–2Google Scholar ; Horn. Num. 6.3.

35 , OrigenHom. Num. 6.3Google Scholar ; Hom. Isa. 3.2; Comm. in John 2.84-85; 6.220; 13.405.

36 , TertullianAdv. Marc. 5.21.1.Google Scholar

37 Biblia Patristica, 1.519.

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41 Ibid.

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44 PL 26. 743-44 (Vallarsi); Zahn § 1.

45 , Bammel, “Pauline Prefaces,” 506Google Scholar , n. 67. This procedure may have had its roots in the critical method of “άυασκευή (refutation) and κατασκευή (confirmation)” which Grant, Robert M., (The Earliest Lives of Jesus [New York: Harper, 1961] 40–49)Google Scholar has pointed out was practiced in antiquity by rhetoricians and was used by Origen throughout his works (ibid., 50-79).

46 See Perrone, Lorenzo, “Perspectives sur Origène et la littérature patristique des ‘Quaestiones et Responsiones,’” in Dorival, Gilles and Boulluec, Alain Le, eds., Origeniana Sexta (BEThL 118; Leuven: Peeters, 1995) 158.Google Scholar

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48 See below on Phlm. 1-3, 5.

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50 Neuschäfer, Bernhard, Origenes als Philologe (Schweizerische Beiträge zur Altertumswissenschaft 18; Basel: Friedrich Reinhardt, 1987) 240–42Google Scholar ; , Perrone, “Perspectives sur Origène,” 151–64.Google Scholar

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52 , Harnack (“Origenistisches Gut,” 143–44)Google Scholar thinks Jerome's reference to the epithet Adiabenici for Septimius Severus indicates his dependence on Origen, for he thinks Jerome in 387 would hardly have gone back to this epithet on his own.

53 , OrigenComm. in Rom. Praef. 2.Google Scholar

54 , Bammel, “Pauline Prefaces,” 503, 505.Google Scholar

55 , Harnack, “Origenistisches Gut,” 144.Google Scholar

56 PG 17. 591C-93C; see , Souter, The Earliest Latin Commentaries, 115Google Scholar.

57 , Nautin (“La date,” 11–12)Google Scholar prints Jerome's and Rufinus's texts in parallel columns and highlights the common terminology between the two texts.

58 , OrigenPrinc. 3.1.1–24, esp. 4-6.Google Scholar

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60 Comm. in John 20.168-70; 198-202 ; trans. Heine, Ronald E., Origen: Commentary on the Gospel according to John Books 13-32 (Fathers of the Church 89; Washington; Catholic University of America, 1993) 248–49Google Scholar.

61 GCS 3, 390.23-391.1.

62 , Harnack, “Origenistisches Gut,” 145–46.Google Scholar

63 , RufinusApol. 1.40 (PL 21.579A-B).Google Scholar

64 , Turner, “Greek Patristic Commentaries,” 496Google Scholar ; , Harnack, “Origenistisches Gut,” 146Google Scholar , , Souter, Earliest Latin Commentaries, 115.Google Scholar

65 Deniau, Francis, “Le commentaire de Jérôme sur Ephésiens nous permet-il connaître celui d'Origène?,” inGoogle ScholarCrouzel, Henri, Lomiento, Gennaro, and Rius-Camps, Josep, eds., Origeniana: premier colloque international des études Origènes (Quaderni di “Vetera Christianorum” 12; Bari: Istituto di Letteratura Cristiana Antica, 1975) 170Google Scholar.

66 , Bammel, “Pauluskommentare,” 197–98Google Scholar, see also 205-6.