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Origen's Interpretation of Luke 1:35

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Origen's Interpretation of Luke 1:35 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 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..
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