Gregory the Miracle-Worker, Panegyric to Origen 16.63-16.92
created: This entry is taken from Panegyric to Origen 16.63-16.92 written by Gregory the
edition published: 2023-06-30-05:00
language: grc; grc
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https://caesarea-maritima.org/testimonia/327

Caesarea Maritima is indirectly attested at Gregory the Miracle-Worker, Panegyric to Origen 16.63-16.92. This passage was written ca. ca. 239 C.E. possibly in Caesarea Maritima. Theodore, who later became known as Gregory the Miracle-Worker (ὁ Θαυματουργός), was a Christian convert from a leading family of Pontic Neocaesarea who became an influential theologian and bishop during the middle decades of the 3rd century. As a wealthy youth traveling with his brother to study law at Berytus in ca. 231-233, he escorted his sister to Caesarea, where her husband was called to serve as legal attaché to the governor. There Theodore entered the training of Origen for several years, at the end of which he delivered an eloquent valedictory lauding the integration of classical and Christian intellectualism. In this passage he describes vividly the prospect of leaving Caesarea, which he describes as a utopia for spiritual growth, and rejoining his mundane existence in some place that is dangerous and without inspiration, like the Jews deported to Babylon.

Πολέμιοί ποτε λέγονται ἐπελθόντες πόλει μεγάλῃ καὶ ἱερᾷ, ἐν ᾗ τὸ θεῖον ἐθεραπεύετο, αἰχμαλώτους κατασῦραι τοὺς ἐνοικοῦντας καὶ ὑμνῳδοὺς καὶ θεολόγους εἰς τὴν αὐτὴν χώραν, Βαβυλωνία δὲ ἦν· τοὺς δ’ ἐνεχθέντας εἰς αὐτήν, μηδ’ ἀξιουμένους ὑπὸ τῶν κρατούντων ὑμνεῖν ἐθέλειν τὸ θεῖον, μηδὲ ψάλλειν ἐν γῇ βεβήλῳ· ἀλλὰ τὰ μὲν ὄργανα τὰ μουσικὰ κρεμάσαι ἐπὶ τῶν ἰτεῶν ἀρτήσαντας, αὐτοὺς δὲ κλαίειν ἐπὶ τῶν ποταμῶν Βαβυλῶνος. Ἐκείνων τις εἶναι δοκῶ, ἐξελαυνόμενος ἀπὸ πόλεως καὶ πατρίδος ἐμῆς ταύτης καὶ ἱερᾶς· ἔνθα μεθ’ ἡμέραν τε καὶ νύκτα οἱ ἱεροὶ ἀπαγγέλλονται νόμοι ὕμνοι τε καὶ ᾠδαὶ καὶ λόγοι μυστικοί, καὶ φῶς τὸ ἡλιακὸν καὶ τὸ διηνεκές, ἡμέρας ὕπερ ἡμῶν προσομιλούντων τοῖς θείοις μυστηρίοις, καὶ νυκτὸς ὧν ἐν ἡμέρᾳ εἶδέ τε καὶ ἔπραξεν ἡ ψυχὴ ταῖς φαντασίαις κατεχομένων· καὶ ὅλως συνελόντα εἰπεῖν ἔνθα ἡ ἔνθεος διὰ παντὸς κατακωχή, ταύτης ἐξελαύνομαι, αἰχμάλωτος φερόμενος εἰς τὴν ἀλλοτρίαν γῆν, ἔνθα μοι οὔτε αὐλεῖν ἐξέσται κρεμασαμένῳ τὸ ὄργανόν μου, ὥσπερ κἀκείνοις, ἀπὸ τῶν ἰτεῶν· ἀλλ’ ἐν μὲν τοῖς ποταμοῖς ἔσομαι, πηλὸν δὲ ἐργάσομαι καὶ ὕμνους λέγειν οὐκ ἐθελήσω, μεμνημένος· ἀλλ’ ἴσως ὑπὸ κακοεργίας τῆς ἄλλης καὶ ἐπιλήσομαι συληθεὶς κατὰ τὰς μνήμας. Εἰ δὲ καὶ ἀπιὼν οὐκ ἄκων μόνον, ὥσπερ αἰχμάλωτος, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἑκὼν ἄπειμι, οὐχ ὑπ’ ἄλλου του, ὑπὸ δὲ ἐμαυτοῦ ἐκπεπολεμημένος, ἐξὸν μένειν, τάχα καὶ ἀπιὼν ἐντεῦθεν οὐκ ἀσφαλῶς πορεύσομαι, ὡς ἀπὸ ἀσφαλοῦς καὶ εἰρηνευομένης τινὸς πόλεως ἐξελθών· εἰκὸς δὲ ὡς ἄρα ὁδοιπορῶν καὶ λῃσταῖς συντεύξομαι καὶ συλληφθήσομαι, καὶ γυμνωθεὶς τρωθήσομαι τραύμασι πολλοῖς, καὶ κείσομαί που ἡμιθνὴς ἐρριμμένος.

[Ed. Crouzel 1969]

It is told that that the enemy once assailed a great and sacred city in which the God was worshipped, and dragged away its inhabitants as prisoners, both singers and prophets, into their own country, Babylonia. And it is told that the captives in that land were unwilling, even when it was demanded by their conquerors, to sing the divine song or psalms in a profane place. Instead they hung their musical instruments on the willows, and wept by the rivers of Babylon. I imagine I am one of these, driven from this city and this sacred homeland of mine, where by day and by night the holy laws are declared, and hymns and songs and secret words are heard, and there is perpetual sunlight, (where) in the day we converse with the mysteries of God, and at night the things our soul has seen and done during the day occupy our dreams—a place, in short, of divine inspiration, everywhere and completely. From this city I am driven, a prisoner carried away to a foreign land where I will not be able to play my music, for, like those men long ago, I shall have hung my instrument from the willow; and I will sit on the riverbanks, and I will work in mud, and I will not want to sign hymns, even though I remember them. It may even be that, exposed to the variety of evil, I will be robbed of my memory and forget. Would that I were only departing unwillingly, like a prisoner of war, and yet I am departing willingly, not at the hands of another, but by my own hands I have become the enemy, even though I can stay. Perhaps departing from here I will embark on a dangerous journey, as can befall one who leaves a safe and peaceful city. To be sure, it is likely that I will run into robbers on the road, they will capture me, strip me naked, cripple me with many wounds, and throw me away to lie somewhere half-dead.

[Adapted from Salmond 1886]

Works Cited

[...] 16 63-92
[...]

[Babylon

Babylonia]

[Gregory the Miracle-Worker

Origen]

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