Letter to St. Gregory the Wonderworker

"Letter to St. Gregory the Wonderworker" written by Origen around 238 to his former student Gregory, later Bishop of Neocaesarea. Origen speaks of the need to constantly study the Holy Scriptures and consider secular sciences as preparation for this matter, without being overly carried away by them. Secular sciences can bring both benefit and harm, just as the Israelites used the treasures taken from Egypt to build the tabernacle, on the one hand, and prepare the golden calf, on the other. One must not weaken in reading the Holy Scriptures, but in order to understand it, pray for help from above. *The title of the work in Latin is Epistula ad Gregorium Thaumaturgum. St. Gregory, at farewell to Origen, made a speech of gratitude and, probably, soon after that he left Kecapia in Palestine for his homeland, not yet knowing what type of life he would choose. Origen’s thoughts were not separated from his student and, apparently, he was very worried about the question of what such a devoted admirer would apply his rich talents and knowledge to. The result of these concerns of Origen was his letter to Gregory the Wonderworker, written after the final separation from Gregory 1, in which Origen convinces him, without being carried away by the opportunity to become a famous philosopher or lawyer, to devote his talents to the service of Christianity, taking advantage of the pagan sciences that can be useful for a Christian figure. With evidence from the Holy Scriptures, Origen, on the one hand, proves the possibility and legality of such use of the acquisitions of pagan science, and on the other, he warns against being overly carried away by them, since turning to pagan science is not useful for everyone. In conclusion, Origen urges Gregory to carefully study the Holy Scriptures and pray for help to understand the divine, so as not to say or think anything about it too hastily. One might think that these admonitions are in connection with some expressions of Gregory’s speech of gratitude. Thus, Gregory in his speech (§ 180), explaining the saying of the Holy Scriptures that only the one who closes can open, calls Origen the interpreter of divine words to people (§ 181). Origen at the end speaks out against such a one-sided exaggeration, coupled with Gregory’s renunciation of independent research, and supplements the interpretation of the saying given by Gregory in this way: “and it will be revealed to you by the doorkeeper,” etc., and points out to his student that it is not enough to knock and seek, but prayer is also necessary. Also, the words of the letter, that Origen dared to write this letter to Gregory because of his fatherly love for him, recall that Gregory in his speech calls Origen his true father (§ 189). Origen's letter was preserved in the exegetical anthology that was compiled from the works of the Alexandrian teacher St. Basil the Great and Gregory the Theologian during the Pontic retreat and which is called Ὀριγένους, Φιλοκαλία, in chapter 13, with the inscription: Πότε καὶ τίσι τά ἀπό ? μετὰ γραφικῆς μαρτυρίας 2. For the translation below, the Greek text is taken from the P. Koetschau,” Des Gregorius Thaumaturgos Dankrede an Origenes, als Anhang der Brief des Origenes an Gregorios Thaumaturgos. Freiburg und Leipzig 1894. S. 40–44. P. Koetschau borrowed the letter from I. A. Robinson’s edition, but for him H. Achelis made a new check of the text (S. XXXV). Letter to St. Gregory the Wonderworker. 1. Origen - my lord, most noble and honorable son Gregory, rejoice in God. The innate ability to understand, if combined with exercise, as you know, can reveal activity that leads to the possible, so to speak, completion of what one wants to exercise on. So, your talent can make you a perfect Roman lawyer and a Hellenic philosopher of those schools that are considered famous. But I would like you to use all the power of your innate talent in the final goal for Christianity; For this reason, I would like you to take, as far as possible, from the philosophy of the Hellenes that which can serve for Christianity as a kind of general sciences 3 or propaedeutics, and from geometry and astronomy that which can be useful for the explanation of the sacred scriptures, so that what the sons of philosophers assert regarding geometry, music, grammar and rhetoric and astronomy, as auxiliary for philosophy, we can say about philosophy itself in relation to Christianity. 2. Perhaps something of this kind is hinted at by what is written in the book of Exodus on behalf of God, that the children of Israel were commanded to ask their neighbors and those living with them for “silver vessels and gold vessels and clothing” (Exodus 11:2, 12:35), so that, having robbed the Egyptians, they would receive material to make what they took to serve God. For from what the children of Israel stole from the Egyptians was built that which is in the Holy of Holies: the ark with the lid, and the cherubim, and the atonement, and the golden vessel in which the manna, the bread of the angels, was preserved; it was probably made from the best gold of the Egyptians. From the second grade of gold [inferior] compared to that [was made] a dense, whole golden lamp, near the inner curtain, and on it the lamps, and the golden table on which was the showbread, and between both there was a golden altar of incense. If there was a third and fourth grade of gold, then sacred vessels were built from it. But something else was made from the silver of the Egyptians. For, living in Egypt, the children of Israel received this profit from their residence there, in order to have an abundance of such valuable material for use in the service of God. From the clothes of the Egyptians, everything was probably made that needed work, as the Scripture called (Ex. 27:16, 37:23), weavers, when the weavers, with the wisdom of God, sewed a certain kind of clothing with similar ones to make external and internal curtains and bedspreads. 3. But what is the need for me to deviate unnecessarily and prove what was useful to the sons of Israel from what they took from Egypt, which the Egyptians did not give proper use to, but the Jews, instructed by divine wisdom, used for the worship of God? However, Scripture knows that for some, the descent from the land of the children of Israel into Egypt served as an evil: it hints that for some it serves as an evil to dwell with the Egyptians, i.e. with the sciences of this world, after they were raised in the law of God and in Israel's service to Him. At least Ader the Edomite, while he was in the land of Israel, without eating the bread of the Egyptians, did not build idols; when, having fled from the wise Solomon, he went down to Egypt, as if having fled from the wisdom of God, he became a relative of Pharaoh, marrying the sister of his wife, and gave birth to a son, who was raised among the sons of Pharaoh (1 Kings 11:14-20). Therefore, although he ascended into the land of Israel, he ascended in order to divide the people of God and force them to say to the golden heifer: “Behold your gods, O Israel, who brought you out of the land of Egypt” (1 Kings 12:28) 4. I, taught by experience, could tell you that there are few who took useful things from Egypt and came out of it and built something that relates to the service of God; on the contrary, there are many brothers of the Edomite Adera. These are those who, as a result of a certain Hellenic ingenuity, brought to life heretical thoughts and, so to speak, built golden heifers in Bethel, which is expressed: the house of God. It seems to me that by this the word [of God] hints that they have erected their own structures in the Scriptures, in which the Word of God dwells and which are figuratively called Bethel. Another building, [as] the word [of God] affirms, was erected in Dan; The borders of Dan are the most extreme and close to the pagan borders, as is clear from what is written in the book of Joshua (Joshua 19:40–48). So, close to the pagan borders are some of the structures that, as we have shown, the brothers of Adera 5 built. 4. So, lord [my] son, first of all, carefully engage in reading the divine scriptures. Yes, study with attention, because when reading the divine scriptures, we need a lot of attention so as not to say or think anything about them too hastily. But as you carefully read the divine scriptures with a faithful and godly disposition, knock on what is contained in it, and it will be opened to you by the doorkeeper, about whom Jesus said: “to him the doorkeeper opens” (John 10:3). And carefully engaging in divine reading, rightly and with firm faith in God, seek the hidden thought of many of the divine scriptures. Don't stop knocking and searching. For prayer is also very necessary in order to understand the divine scriptures. Exhorting her, the Savior not only said: “knock, and it will be opened to you,” and: “seek, and you will find,” but also: “ask, and it will be given to you” (Matthew 7:7). I dared to do this because of my fatherly love for you. Whether it is good that I dared or not, God and His Christ and a partaker of the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ know. May you also be a partaker and may you always multiply the sacrament, so that you can say not only: “we have become partakers of Christ” (Heb. 3:14), but also: we have become partakers of God. "Joh. Dräseke" (in "Jahrb. f. prot. Theol." VII (1881), S. 113 ff. and in "Der Brief an Diognetos, nebst Beiträgen zur Gesohichte des Lebens und der Schriften des Gregorios von Neocaesarea", Leipzig, 1881, S. 155 ff.) proves, that the message was written in 235 or 236, during a break in Origen’s studies on the occasion of the persecution of Maximin, when Origen went to Cappadocia, and Gregory went to Egypt to continue his education, which, in his opinion, is indicated by the historical relationships hidden in Origen’s text, which determined the choice of examples from the Holy Scriptures; in addition, Origen’s admonitions in the letter seem to contradict Gregory’s own expressions in his speech of gratitude. However, this theory cannot be considered valid (see P. Koetschau, Des Gregorios Thaumaturgus Dankrede an Origenes. Freiburg u. Leipzig, 1894, S. XV-XVII) for the sole reason that in this case, in the thank-you speech, as written after the letter, the supposed Joh. Draeseke, the forced break in classes would have found some kind of reflection, which in fact is not at all the case. Newest edition by J. A. Robinson, The Philocalia of Origenes, the Test revised with a eritical Introduction and Indices. Cambridge 1893. Ἐγκύκλια μαθήματα - a circle of sciences and arts that every free Greek had to study in his youth before entering civil life or devoting himself to any special occupation. To correctly determine the meaning in which Origen uses this expression here, the following words of Clement of Alexandria (Strom. 1, 5) are especially instructive: “just as the general sciences (τὰ ἐγκύκλια μαθήματα) help philosophy, its mistress, so philosophy itself contributes to the acquisition of wisdom. For philosophy is an art, and wisdom is the knowledge of divine and human things and their causes.” Origen here and further attributes to Ader what Jeroboam did. That is, heretical fabrications reveal a close relationship with paganism. You might be interested in: