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Origen's Interpretation of Luke 1:35: “The Power of the Most High Will

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Origen's Interpretation of Luke 1:35: “The Power of the Most High Will Emmanuel Hirschauer Notre-Dame de Vie Institute Philippines ORIGEN’S INTERPRETATION OF LUKE 1:35: “THE POWER OF THE MOST HIGH WILL OVERSHADOW YOU” Introduction Origen has been considered a Marian doctor by the Latin 12th cen- tury.1 According to him, Mary is the type, the model of the spiritual, the “pneumatic.” The words of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary, answer- ing her question on how the conception of Jesus might occur, oě er a key passage to enter Origen’s Mariology: “The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God’” (Lk 1:35). We will focus on these words: “The power of the Most High will overshadow you.” According to Origen what is this “power”? What does its “overshadowing” Mary mean? Our method will consist in reading the most signię cant passages where Lk 1:35 is quoted and in- terpreted by Origen. We will start with the Homilies on Saint Luke and then, following in chronological order, we will open the Peri Archon, the Commentary and Homilies on the Song of Songs and the Homilies on Joshua. 1. Homilies on Luke Let us ę rst listen to the third-century teacher as he comments in his Homilies on Luke. Actually the only homilies on the New Testa- ment which we have from Origen are the 39 homilies on Luke which survived in Jerome’s Latin translation. This translation is remarkably faithful.2 Origen also wrote a Commentary on Luke in ę ve books, which (1) Cf. H. CџќѢzђљ, Introduction, in: іёђњ (ed.), Homélies sur S. Luc (Paris: Cerf, 1962) (SC 87) 10ě . (2) “Contemporary scholarship has a high estimate of the accuracy of Jerome’s translation; it can be read with conę dence that one is reading Ori- gen himself, and not some other Origen whom it pleased Jerome to constuct” (J. T. Lіђћѕюџё, Introduction, in: Origen. Homilies on Luke — Fragments on Luke Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 02:12:40PM via free access Emmanuel Hirschauer 33 are lost.3 Only a few commentaries on the Gospel according to Luke have survived and Origen’s homilies on Luke are the only extant work on either the Infancy Narrative before Hilary’s commentary on Mat- thew (ca. 355).4 The date of Origen’s Homilies on Luke must be some- where between Origen’s moving to Caesarea (probably in 233) and the Commentary on MaĴ hew (244), which mentions the Homilies on Luke.5 The 39 homilies on Luke are focused on the ę rst four chapters of the Gospel. Homilies 1 to 33 treat Luke 1:1 to 4:27, with the exception of three passages: 1:33–38, 2:3–7 and 2:18–20.6 Since Origen’s homilies on Luke treat six to ten verses each, it seems that three homilies were lost, and one of them may have contained some explanations on Luke 1:35. In the sixth homily, commenting on the ę rst part of the narrative of the Annunciation (cf. Lk 1:26–33),7 as expected Origen says nothing about Lk 1:35; and then in the seventh homily he passes over to the narrative of the Visitation (cf. Lk 1:39–45). Nevertheless, insights into Lk 1:35 can still be read in three homilies. First one has to go to the fourth homily. There Origen comments on the annunciation to Zachary (cf. Lk 1:13–17).8 “With the spirit and power of Elħ ah he will go before him” (Lk 1:17): Zachary’s prophecy about his son oě ers an interesting distinction between spirit and power; in order to give an account of it, Origen quotes Lk 1:35: “He will go before Christ in the spirit and power of Elħ ah” (cf. Lk 1:17). Luke does not say, “in the soul of Elħ ah”, but, “in the spirit and power of Elħ ah — in spiritu et virtute Heliae.” Power and spirit dwelt in Elħ ah — fuit in Heliae virtus et spiritus — as in all the prophets and, with regard to his humanity, in the Lord and Savior as well. A liĴ le (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1996) (The Fa- thers of the Church, A New Translation 94) xxxvi). (3) Jerome refers to this work in his preface to the Homilies on Luke (cf. SC 87, 93–94). (4) The Fathers commented and preached mainly on MaĴ hew and John, saying liĴ le about Luke, and practically ignoring Mark. Apart from Origen’s homilies on Luke, we still have 156 homilies by Cyril of Alexandria, preser- ved in Syriac, and Ambrose’s Exposition of the Gospel according to Luke, in ten books. (5) Cf. Lіђћѕюџё, Introduction..., xxiv. (6) Homilies 34 to 39 treat isolated passages from Luke, from chapter 10 to chapter 20. (7) Cf. Homilies on Luke, 6, 3–9; SC 87, 145–153. (8) Cf. Ibid., 4; SC 87, 129–135. Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 02:12:40PM via free access 34 Scrinium IV (2008). Patrologia Pacię ca later in the Gospel the angel says to Mary, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you — Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi” (Lk 1:35). So the spirit that had been in Elħ ah came upon John as well, and the power that Elħ ah had also appeared in John.9 Thus, according to Origen, spiritus and virtus are two distinct re- alities.10 The quotation of Lk 1:35 as an illustration of this distinction seems to lead to the conclusion that the power of the Most High is not the Holy Spirit. One has to distinguish the coming of the Spirit from the overshadowing of the power of the Most High. Two passages where Lk 1:35 is quoted point out the identity of the spiritus: The fourteenth homily gives the beginning of Origen’s exegesis on the presentation of Jesus in the Temple (cf. Lk 2:21–24).11 Joseph and Mary were fulę lling the scriptural commands: “As it is wriĴ en in the law of Moses, every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord” (Lk 2:23, formulated from Ex 13:2 and Num 8:16); and: “Three times in the year every male shall appear in the sight of the Lord God” (Ex 34:23). In a very concrete manner, Origen reĚ ects upon the opening of Mary’s womb: “Every male that opens the womb…” This phrase has a spiritual meaning. For you might say that “every male is brought forth from the womb” but does not open the womb of his mother, in the way that the Lord Jesus did. In the case of every other woman, it is not the birth of an infant but intercourse with a man that opens the womb. [8.] But the womb of the Lord’s mother was opened at the time when her oě spring was brought forth, because before the birth of Christ a (9) Homilies on Luke, 4, 5, Lіђћѕюџё, 19; SC 87, 133–135. (10) In the Commentary on MaĴ hew, Origen comments on this same verse (Lk 1:17), underlying that John had the spirit of Elħ ah and not his soul. The spirit that John received from Elħ ah was not Elħ ah’s own spirit but the pneuma which may happen simply to be in him. Thus, Elħ ah had a special spirit, but it aĞ erwards rested on Eliseus, and when John was born it passed to him (cf. Commentary on MaĴ hew, 13, 2; GCS, 40, 178, 14–17). See J. DѢѝѢіѠ, « L’esprit de l’homme », Etude sur l’anthropologie religieuse d’Origène (Desclée de Brouwer, 1967) (Museum Lessianum section théologique 62) 129–131. Cf. also M. Mюџі- ѡюћќ, L’argomenta£ione scriĴ uristica di Origene contro i sostenitori della me- tensomatosi, in: G. Dќџіѣюљ and A. Lђ BќѢљљѢђѐ (eds.), Origeniana Sexta, Ori- gène et la Bible / Origen and the Bible, Actes du Colloquium Origenianum Sextum, Chantilly, 30 août – 3 septembre 1993 (Leuven: University Press, 1995) 254–255. (11) Cf. Homilies on Luke, 14; SC 87, 217–231. Downloaded from Brill.com09/25/2021 02:12:40PM via free access Emmanuel Hirschauer 35 male did not even touch her womb, holy as it was and deserving of all respect. I dare to say something. At that moment of which Scrip- ture says, “The Spirit of God — Spiritus Dei — will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk 1:35), the seed was planted and the conception took place; without an opening of the womb, a new oě spring began to grow.12 Since Mary is a virgin mother, her womb was opened only at the very moment of Jesus’ birth and not at the very moment of his conception. Let us notice that here Origen modię es the original text of Luke which has: “The Holy Spirit.” Thus quoted, Lk 1:35 clearly aĴ ests to the divine origin of Jesus: the Spiritus is “the Spirit of God — Spiritus Dei.” Next, in the seventeenth homily Origen comments on Lk 2:35–38, that is, on Symeon’s prophecy about the Child Jesus and his mother. ReĚ ecting on Joseph’s fatherhood, Origen quotes Lk 1:35. Through the words of Gabriel at the Annunciation, Luke “clearly handed down to us that Jesus was the son of a virgin, and was not conceived by human seed.”13 Then, reĚ ecting on the nature of the sword which will pierce Mary’s soul, according to Symeon’s prophecy, Origen speaks of the scandal endured during Jesus’ passion by Mary as well as by the Apostles: You know, Mary, that you bore as a virgin, without a man.
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