The fragments from Origen’s Commentary on Lamentations survived, as other fragments of Origen’s works did, in catenae (chains), Byzantine biblical commentaries formed by stringing together brief passages excerpted from older commentaries. In spite of the obscurity that comes from the loss of context, we find in this, one of the earliest of Origen’s commentaries (between 222 and 225, according to Nautin), the same approach to the Bible that he continued to employ throughout his life. Origen initially approaches the text as a grammateus, establishing the work’s form in Hebrew, setting it in a historical context, comparing translations, and, where necessary, identifying prosôpa. Note, in fragment XXV, Origen’s concern, without using the term, to identify the prosôpon of the speaker when Lamentations 1:9 switches from a third-person voice, presumably to be identified as the prosôpon of the prophet Jeremiah, to a direct address to God in the second person (“See, Lord, my humility …”). In his attempt to understand the text in its historical context, Origen draws on Josephus’s account of a similar circumstance, the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 (fr. CIX). As we see in the fragments on Lamentations 1:4, 1:9, and 1:10, Origen first uses such grammatical techniques to establish the literal sense of the text, which then provides the basis for an elevated sense.
Jerusalem in captivity to the Babylonians symbolizes, at the higher level of interpretation, the soul in captivity to the demons. The gentile nations that loot the temple and even enter its holy of holies are a mob of vices that overcome the soul’s governing faculty (hêgemonikon) and invade the sanctuary of reason (logos) where God can reside (fr. XXVII). Such a captive soul has entered a state of confusion (frs X and LII). This is why the “ways of Zion,” the four philosophical disciplines that lead to the truth, “mourn” because they are no longer traveled (fr. XIV). Origen always maintains that, even in the punishments Jerusalem undergoes, God is acting mercifully, with no wrath or vindictiveness, to bring her back to himself. In spite of the severity of his chastisement, God is not the soul’s enemy, but, rather, “like an enemy” (fr. XLVI), since he actually acts for the soul’s own benefit. Fragment CXVI, the longest of the fragments and the last in our selection, deals with Lam. 4:20, traditionally regarded as an important Old Testament testimony to Christ. It anticipates what Origen says about the relation between the two testaments in our selection below from Book 1 of the Commentary on John and testifies to Origen’s belief in a continuing prophetic charism.
The text is from Commentary on Lamentations from GCS 6, ed. Erich Klostermann and revised by Pierre Nautin, Berlin, 1983, pp. 235–79.
Text
And it came to pass after Israel was taken captive and Jerusalem was laid waste, Jeremiah was mourning and made this lamentation over Jerusalem and said:
Jeremiah, while the people are captive in Babylon, makes his lamentations over the city, the country, and the people because of what had happened. He makes these laments in individual stanzas beginning with each letter of the Hebrew alphabet. After composing a lament beginning with each letter up to tau, the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet, he repeats the process beginning with aleph, going through the twenty-four letters four times.
If we see that the soul – which is contemplative by nature, able to survey and attend to things that exist – has become subject to the Devil or even his angels, and altogether subject to the hostile powers, we shall somehow understand both the captivity and the one taking captive. But taking refuge in Christ, who proclaimed, according to the prophet Isaiah, “release to the captives” (see Lk. 4:18; Isa. 61:1), we shall be liberated from captivity, even if he who takes captive has succeeded in putting us in bondage. For Jesus came to “lead those in bondage out of their bonds and those sitting in darkness from the house of custody” (Isa. 42:7).
III The Hebrews say that the books of the Old Testament have the same number as the letters of the alphabet because they are an introduction to all knowledge of God, just as the letters of the alphabet are an introduction to all wisdom for those who learn. For this reason they are fourfold, perhaps because bodies have been composed of four elements. * * * Lamentations is not found in the versions of Aquila and Theodotion, but only in Symmachus and the Septuagint. * * * Someone might investigate why, since the title of the book, Lamentations, is in the plural, it says “this lamentation” in the singular in the prologue. But although there are many parts, assigned to the letters, all have a single reference, referring to one subject, Israel.
How does the city sit solitary, that was filled with people; she who was filled with gentiles has become like a widow, she who ruled over the land has become subject to paying tribute (Lam. 1:1).
It is appropriate to refer “filled with people,” understood according to the letter, to the Israelites dwelling there, and “filled with gentiles,” as mentioned earlier, to proselytes. In the elevated sense, since it is more natural and assured for theoretical matters rather than practical ones to refer to the soul, the multitude of people would symbolize the blessed Jerusalem’s wealth of theoretical insights, and the multitude of gentiles her large number of good works. * * * She that was filled with people sits solitary because the bride has been abandoned by her bridegroom the Word, so that she who once was filled with the gentiles just mentioned has become like a widow.
As far as the letter is concerned, the tone of amazement in the reference to Jerusalem is fitting because of the sad change that had left her that was filled with people sitting solitary, so that her solitude is desertion. For she once had as her husband the presiding living Word, and when he was present to assist her, she attended on him, but she had since been widowed and abandoned by him because of her sin. * * * This will sufficiently explain what is said, but, as to the meaning, Jerusalem flourishing and filled with people and with gentiles, and ruling over the land, is the divine soul. And it is not remarkable, if the perfect soul is not addressed as a house, a farmstead, or – better than this – as a village, nor even as a city, but is called Jerusalem, distinguished above all cities and honored by God, because she has been invested by wisdom and virtue with far greater renown than even the greatest city, with all its multitude of buildings. * * * Just as it is possible to see Jerusalem prospering, filled with people and with gentiles and ruling in the land, so, if virtue is liable to change, it is sometimes possible to see her made solitary, acting as a widow and a slave, so that she pays tribute to the enemy who exercises dominion over her, in the manner of a soul fallen away from the truth.
What must one say also concerning the city that, after having ruled the land, has been so enslaved by her enemies that she continually pays tribute, paying to evil rulers whatever tribute they exact; even though they never exact anything beneficial? Indeed, whenever any of us stumbles, he pays some tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, whose name means, “seated and recognition of straitened circumstances,” and not just to Nebuchadnezzar, but also to his satraps.
Mourning she mourns in the night, and her tears are upon her cheeks, and there is no one to console her from all those who love her. All those who befriended her have rejected her, and they have become enemies to her (Lam. 1:2).
In the case of the first lament, beginning with aleph, we can maintain the literal sense. In the case of this one, what would someone say, when a city is said to have mourned in the night, so that her tears are upon her cheeks? Evidently one says “city” to indicate those whom we would refer to as its inhabitants, who are also paying tribute, and in their mourning calling to mind how they have gone from such peace and freedom into such a great slavery and wretchedness in order to mourn. How also shall we interpret “in the night,” except that, in the time of a common rest for all men, the city has remembered its disasters, that is those who dwell in the city do not cease to mourn, and they mourn with their tears falling streaming down their cheeks? Mourning is most intense for them and tears flow down, because there is no one to console them from so many lovers, since each of those who had befriended her has rejected friendship toward her and has exchanged it for hatred. Who are those, therefore, who, according to the letter, loved her earlier, of whom there is not one to console her? Perhaps they are the rest of the cities of Judah, because, in the same way, they had loved the mother city, but did not console her in time of distress.
* * *
Let this suffice concerning the literal meaning. But if the discourse, as we have shown in earlier discussions, should refer to the perfect soul as “Jerusalem,” that soul is said to mourn, coming into confusion after having fallen from her native land. Thus she is in the opposite situation from those who laugh the laughter that comes from joy and gladness, which our Lord promises to those who mourn a blessed mourning, saying, “Blessed are those who mourn now, because they shall laugh” (see Lk. 6:21). In Job also it says that “the mouth of the true shall be filled with laughter” (Job 8:21); this, indeed, is why one of the Patriarchs was named “Laughter” (see Gen. 21:6). Thus he who is groaning because of being in the tent – as the Apostle set forth, saying “for we who are in the tent are groaning as a result of being weighed down” (2 Cor. 5:4) – and longing for the laughter and the divine gladness in the promise, mourns the mourning that is most nourishing and beneficial for the soul.
We think that love is more divine and, so to speak, spiritual, but friendship is bodily and more human. Doubtless we should ascribe nothing base to one who loves, because “there is no one to console her from among all those who love her” refers only to those who are better, but “All those who befriended her have rejected her, and they have become enemies to her” refers to those who are worse. Indeed the worse have rejected her and become her enemies; but the better have simply not consoled her.
The ways of Zion mourn because no one arrives at a feast, all her gates have been removed, her priests lament, her virgins are led away, and she has been embittered in herself (Lam 1:4).
The literal sense is this. The law says, “Three times a year each of your males shall appear before the Lord your God” (Dt. 16:16). The people were conscientious, after the building of the Temple in Zion at the time of Solomon, to fulfill this commandment. And around Jerusalem, where the cities of Judah are, roads lead from every direction toward Zion. These the prophet speaks of as lamenting sadly because of being in captivity and complete desolation. There was also great prosperity and gladness in them in the days when the inhabitants of Judah hastened from all directions to the festival on Mount Zion. Since there were many gates built on all sides of Zion, the discourse says “they have all been removed, and the priests groan,” evidently because they are no longer able to accomplish priestly activities on the feasts and other days – either because they have been taken into captivity or because no one comes to them requesting priestly acts of worship. But also “the virgins,” it says, of Zion are “led away,” evidently by enemies who have taken control.
The meaning is this: since the ability to look toward a goal and to contemplate is called “Zion,” the many ways are the various disciplines – mystical, physical, ethical, and logical – that lead to the apprehension and observation of what is set before us. All these ways, therefore, lament whenever someone has lost these disciplines and is confused, since they are no longer traveled, as they were when these “ways” were crowded, because they were by being examined, and, so to speak, traversed. They lament being deserted, not being inquired of or passed through, because those who travel on them have disappeared and, taken into captivity by the passions, have been diverted to inferior pursuits.
Her uncleanness is before her feet, she has not remembered her last things; she has degraded her important things, there is no one to comfort her. See, Lord, my humility, because the enemy has been magnified (Lam. 1:9).
According to the bodily interpretation, what is now said concerning Jerusalem means this: the uncleanness of Jerusalem is an impediment, but the prophet has left it to us to understand what sort of impediment it is. He indicates, indeed, that her uncleanness is what impedes her walking, but, while such is the case, he also indicates that she has not remembered her last things. But whoever has these last things before his eyes and sees why he is assailed by sins will not sin. For this reason, therefore, her uncleanness is an impediment to her; and because she has not remembered her last things – her wonderful and great things, things which she had because they were worth being concerned about – she has degraded and brought to wretchedness things that originally were important and great beyond all praise. But also after all this there was no one to comfort her who had repeatedly degraded her great things. Therefore, recognize, Lord, my wretchedness when I speak, since the wicked one is magnified because of what has happened to my fatherland.
* * *
One must, to be sure, investigate, according to the laws of elevated interpretation, if it is possible to be involved in some uncleanness without being responsible for it. Let us look at the first thoughts of the Lamentation. Such a soul has fallen away entirely and is in uncleanness, an uncleanness that hinders her from proceeding on the holy way. Just as the holy Moses was ordered by God to remove his sandals when he entered a holy place (see Ex. 3:5) and the same occurred to his successor Joshua (see Jos. 5:15) – for it was inappropriate for the feet to be wearing dead hide in a holy place – so if anyone is going to proceed without impediment, he must not just remove sandals, but needs also to wash off the uncleanness that has occurred because the feet are dusty. And we think that the Savior’s pouring water into a basin to wash his disciples’ feet is a symbol of this, when he said to Peter, who because he did not understand the mystery tried to prevent him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me” (Jn 13:8) and “What I am doing you are not aware of now, but later on you will know” (Jn 13:7). Will it not be necessary for the uncleanness gathering about the feet of the soul, so to speak, to require Jesus, so that he may wash it away and we may have part in him? But if it remains present, it will be an impediment to our walking along the way according to sound reason, namely the Savior who says, “I am the way” (see Jn 14:6).
It is evident that the healthy soul, or the one desiring to be so, performs actions so as not simply to look to the present, but to look ahead also toward the future results to be expected from what it has accomplished. And if, in the case of something regarded as beneficial in the present, it foresees its turning sour in the future, it acts to reject what seems pleasant at the time, so not to fall into some difficulty later on. On the other hand, if something is arduous in the present, but this apparent unpleasantness offers good prospects, it willingly dedicates itself to austerity, even though it is initially repugnant, instead of devoting itself to activities that are initially enjoyable but have an unpleasant outcome.
It says that, suffering all these things, the one figuratively called Jerusalem did not abound in comforters. Moreover, having abandoned the reason within her so as to be wholly dominated by the passions, she has lost her helper, the one always arming her against distress, along with the attitude that puts her on guard against things to be considered repugnant. After this it says “See my” – the citizen’s – “humiliation,” as if a relative of the soul should say: “This suffering belongs to me, a citizen; because I have been taught humane feeling, it is my misfortune. Therefore, Lord, attend, and do not finally abandon the one who has undergone the aforementioned sufferings. Do not overlook her enemy, wickedness, I say, which has been magnified and poured down on her.” It is possible that “See, Lord, my humility” is spoken figuratively by the reason that subsists in the soul, dishonored and humiliated, having lost, so to speak, its proper dominion.
The oppressor has extended his hand over all her desirable things; for she has seen the gentiles entering into her holiness, those whom I ordered not to enter your congregation (Lam. 1:10).
Of course the “desirable things” of Jerusalem must be understood as the things in the Temple, both those suitably arranged for divine worship in the holy of holies and those otherwise believed divine because they were stored in the Temple, the golden lampstand and so on. Indeed the people were convinced that these were stored in the Temple for the glory of God, and esteemed them above all else, preferring to suffer hardship themselves from their enemies than to allow any of them to fall into the hands of enemies. It was customary for those in the circumcision to refer to the Temple as “holiness”.
Jerusalem had suffered something most incredible during the time of captivity: for the gentiles, whom God commanded not to enter the congregation, were seen walking in the “holiness,” where it was not even permitted for Israelites to enter. Only priests (with purifications not available to ordinary people) were considered worthy there. But enemies had penetrated into forbidden places, even entering the place where only the high priest entered, after many purifications, once a year (see Heb. 9:7).
* * *
But if Jerusalem, as we have already proposed, is such a captive soul, it must be understood that the good properties which she has by nature as an ornament – the means by which she worshipped the divine, hidden in places forbidden to anyone except reason, the high priest – are called her “desirable things.” But the enemy has taken control of all these things in the fray, oppressing the one not fighting well for herself, but rightly abandoned by divine assistance. Extending himself by his active power toward depravity, he has looted the governing faculty and left the soul that has fallen away from God bereft of good properties. Also, “nations” in our passage must be understood allegorically as the mob of vices “entering” into the governing faculty that was crafted to be capable of containing God and to be the true “holiness” of the person wishing to rely on a pure mind. These very “nations” God everywhere prohibits from entering the congregation. For what else should we more properly consider to have been prohibited by God from entering the soul numbered in God’s church than the works and the intention of the flesh, since these are truly nations at enmity with God? For the flesh does battle against the Spirit (see Gal. 5:17), because the intention of the flesh is at enmity with God, since it is not subject to the law of God, nor can it be (see Rom. 8:7).
He has bent his bow like an enemy, he has made strong his right hand like a foe, and he has killed all the precious things of my eyes in the tabernacle of the daughter of Zion. He has poured out his wrath like fire (Lam. 2:4).
Indeed the enemies also dared to perpetrate massacres in the Temple with God’s permission. “Like an enemy” is well put, for God does not chastise out of enmity, but out of a desire to benefit either those who suffer or those who observe his chastisement. The Temple is called “tabernacle” after the former sanctuary, and “bow” is the retributive power, according to Habbakuk, “Stretching you stretch your bow, says the Lord, against the scepters” (Hab. 3:9), which are clearly adverse rulers and authorities. But the Son, as the “right hand” of God the Father, has swiftly prevailed, destroying the very idols they had set up in the Temple of God (for these are the “precious things of the eyes”), killing, instead of the idols, the demons dwelling in them.
The Lord has handed over his altar of incense, he has shaken off his holiness, he has crushed in the hand of the enemy the wall of its heavy things; they had given voice in the house of the Lord as in the day of festival (Lam. 2:7).
He handed over the vessels for worship, since he was no longer well pleased with the sacrifices offered by the impious, as in “whole offerings of rams and fat of bulls and of goats I do not desire” (Isa. 1:11). He also handed over the restraining wall of the city’s dwellings, even the palace, as Symmachus translated. But the adversaries, when they had also taken the Temple, boasted, as in a total victory, for the rest of the festival. The soul’s altar of incense is the rational faculty, through which the passions, put to death, are offered as a sacrifice.
Her gates have sunk into the ground, they have destroyed and crushed her bars, her king and her rulers are among the gentiles, there is no law, and her prophets do not receive visions from the Lord (Lam. 2:9).
Indeed they [the gates] are as invisible as if they were put away beneath the earth or the sea. But king, rulers, false prophets – as well as her law, which they had broken by choice before succumbing – have been destroyed by the pressure of servitude. The gates of the soul are the senses, which, when it sins, are overwhelmed by the passions and become earthy. And those powers of the soul that guard it are undone when the reigning mind is destroyed and when the ruling rational faculties are among the passions, so that the law and order of the soul are destroyed and it becomes full of “Babylon” or “confusion,” having no faculty of foresight coming to the rescue from God.
How has the gold become dim, and how has the good silver altered? The holy stones have been poured out at the beginning of every alley (Lam. 4:1).
They are holy since they are elect because of the fathers (see Rom. 11:28) or because of those saints left with Jehoiachin, whom he compares to fruitful fig trees (see Jer. 24:2–5).
* * *
The ways out from the holy land “lead away to destruction” (see Mt. 7:13) and to what Babylon means, “so that they may be instructed not to blaspheme” (1 Tim. 1:20). But you could say that the lamentation refers to those who have turned aside from piety, especially notorious persons who led others into error, “abandoning the spring of living water, becoming shattered cisterns that can no longer hold water” (see Jer. 2:23). So they are as if they were poured out, bewailing their error too late.
Her Nazirites had become purer than snow, they shone more than milk, what was torn from them was redder than gems of sapphire. Their appearance has become darker than soot, they are not recognized in the passages, their skin sticks to their bones, they have dried out, they have become like wood (Lam. 4:7–8).
Symmachus has “Her undefiled ones were distinguished beyond snow, brighter than milk, their condition was redder than admirable things, their limbs were sapphire, their appearance darker than soot.” The text speaks of those sanctifying themselves to God, for “Nazirites” means “sanctified”. This is why Symmachus and Theodotion rendered “those sanctified” in Amos as “Nazirites” (see Amos 2:12). Moses has also mentioned them (see Num. 6) and Samson was one (see Judg. 13:5). And they were present among the Jews. Because of their purity they were compared to snow, because of their brilliance to milk, but they were reddened by discipline, having been tested in those things which they promised to God. Their elect, evidently the piece torn out, have a heavenly manner of life, appropriate to the color of sapphire. They also had golden veins, to which Symmachus likens their state of mind, by piety possessing what is incorruptible and fiery.
Her watchers have been tossed about in the alleys, they have been stained with blood, so that no one can touch their clothing (Lam. 4:14).
Symmachus says: “They have become unstable, blind in the alleys, they are defiled with blood, so that no one can touch their clothing”. Scripture calls the angels “watchers” in Daniel (see Dan. 4:10). Perhaps these were the ones by whom the law was given through Moses, according to “if indeed the law spoken through angels” (Heb. 2:2). Such beings, therefore, who were in attendance even in the divine temple itself, were tossed about and abandoned it. For Josephus in the account of the siege narrates how “by night the priests entering the temple, as was their custom for the services, said that they had apprehended a movement and after that the voice of a crowd saying ‘we are departing from here’.” According to Symmachus it says that they had become unstable, straying, and blind in the alleys. For there was “no distinct vision” (see 1 Sam. 3:2). No king, no prophet, no leader was left, since, indeed, “it belonged to him for whom it was reserved, who was the expectation of the gentiles” (see Gen. 49:10).
They have hunted our little ones, so that they cannot walk upon our streets, our time has come, our days are fulfilled, our time is upon us (Lam. 4:18).
Having been accepted by the Savior as “fishers of men” (see Mt. 4:19), the disciples hunted Jews who were infants in understanding, those who were not strolling the wide and broad (see Mt. 7:13) way of their fathers; whom the Savior hinted at saying “let the little children come to me” (Mt. 19:14).
The spirit of our face, Christ the Lord, was taken away in their depraved activities, concerning whom we said “In his shadow we shall live among the nations” (Lam. 4:20).
Some have said that among those who are prominent, [the prophet] specifically laments Josiah, for [the pious] were hoping through his piety to reestablish Jerusalem in glory in the midst of the nations, for Jerusalem is in the midst of the nations. [Josiah] is a type, [these interpreters] say, of Christ, because he was put to death because of the people’s lawlessness. And indeed [Josiah] was not involved in the people’s depraved activities, but he was taken away because, even though cautioned by a prophet, he met Pharaoh Neco in battle, even though Neco did not want to fight against him (see 2 Chr. 35:20–5). Moreover, according to the divine Apostle, “a veil is placed on the face of the Jews when they read Moses, but if they were to return to the Lord, the veil would be removed, the Lord is spirit” (2 Cor. 3:15–17). But by prophetic utterance he calls the Lord “spirit.” Even though those who encounter the veil could not say “The spirit of our face, Christ the Lord,” those who are “beholding with unveiled face the glory of the Lord as in a mirror” (see 2 Cor. 3:18) could say so. These latter are those for whom the Lord is always present to the eyes of the mind. This makes it clear that the spirit working in the prophets was Christ, the same one who, when incarnate, said “I am present, the very one who is speaking” (Isa. 52:6; see also Jn 4:26), himself being spirit, Lord, and Christ. This is the one they took away when they were first destroying among themselves the seeds of piety. But after we have been taken away, we the prophets can conclude that the spirit of our face no longer has a place among them, so that we live under the shadow of Christ, no longer with the Jews, but among all the nations, seeing that “the kingdom of God – taken from them” because of the outrage against Christ – “has been given to the nations” (see Mt. 21:43). Behold, indeed the prophets live in us, speaking about him and proclaiming, but no longer among them, those then and now implicating him in their own depraved activities and daily blaspheming him. But Aquila says “spirit of our nostrils” and Symmachus “breath of our nostrils”. For those who are beloved of God are breathing Christ in everything, because they have him before their eyes. It should be known that just as Christ, being a spirit, spoke in the prophets, so also did the Father, for Paul says in Hebrews: “In various ways and in many manners God who spoke in ancient times in the prophets, has in the last days spoken to us in a Son” (Heb. 1:1); so also the Holy Spirit, for the Savior says: “well did the Holy Spirit say in Isaiah, ‘they hear with hearing and do not understand’” (Mt. 13:14, Isa. 6:9). In the letter to the Corinthians Paul, speaking of the charisms, including prophecy, says: “In all these works one and the same Spirit, directing each one as he wills” (1 Cor. 12:11), that is, authentically, not slavishly. You could say that the spirit of the face, namely Christ, is the spirit of prophecy that will be given to us, for this is the face of the prophets. But the spirit is a charism, the shadow is law, according to “for the law, having a shadow of the good things to come” (Heb. 10:1). Therefore the prophets lived in us and in the shadow of the law. The prophetic charism, which is the outcome of all prophecy, is Christ, that is, from Christ, “for Christ is the end of the law and the prophets” (Rom. 10:4). It could be said of the persons of apostles and believers that “in him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28), thus we say that we live in his shadow, that is, in imitation of him. For the divine Apostle says “be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1).
