Homilies on the Psalms: Codex Monacensis Graecus 314 (Fathers of the Church Patristic Series)

In 2012 Dr. Marina Marin Pradel, an archivist at the Bayerische Stattsbibliotek in Munich, discovered that a thick 12th-century Byzantine manuscript, Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, contained twenty-nine of Origen's Homilies on the Psalms , hitherto considered lost. Lorenzo Perrone of the University of Bologna, an internationally respected scholar of Origen, vouched for the identification and immediately began work on the scholarly edition that appeared in 2015 as the thirteenth volume of Origen's works in the distinguished Griechische Christlichen Schrifsteller series. In an introductory essay Perrone provided proof that the homilies are genuine and demonstrated that they are, astonishingly, his last known work. Live transcripts, these collection homilies constitute our largest collection of actual Christian preaching from the pre-Constantinian period. In these homilies, the final expression of his mature thought, Origen displays, more fully than elsewhere, his understanding of the church and of deification as the goal of Christian life. They also give precious insights into his understanding of the incarnation and of human nature. They are the earliest example of early Christian interpretation of the Psalms, works at the heart of Christian spirituality. Historians of biblical interpretation will find in them the largest body of Old Testament interpretation surviving in his own words, not filtered through ancient translations into Latin that often failed to convey his intense philological acumen. Among other things, they give us new insights into the life of a third-century Greco-Roman metropolis, into Christian/Jewish relations, and into Christian worship. This translation, using the GCS as its basis, seeks to convey, as faithfully as possible, Origen's own categories of thought. An introduction and notes relate the homilies to the theology and principles of interpretation in Origen's larger work and to that work's intellectual context and legacy. Contents 6 Acknowledgments 8 Abbreviations 10 Select Bibliography 12 Introduction 16 The Discovery of CMG 314 18 Preaching 21 Grammar 25 Principles of Interpretation 29 What We Learn from the Homilies 35 This Translation 45 Homilies on the Psalms: Codex Monacensis Graecus 314 50 Homily 1 on Psalm 15 52 Homily 2 on Psalm 15 73 Homily 1 on Psalm 36 91 Homily 2 on Psalm 36 105 Homily 3 on Psalm 36 116 Homily 4 on Psalm 36 135 Homily 1 on Psalm 67 153 Homily 2 on Psalm 67 173 Homily 1 on Psalm 73 193 Homily 2 on Psalm 73 207 Homily 3 on Psalm 73 218 Homily on Psalm 74 235 Homily on Psalm 75 243 Homily 1 on Psalm 76 253 Homily 2 on Psalm 76 268 Homily 3 on Psalm 76 279 Homily 4 on Psalm 76 291 Homily 1 on Psalm 77 302 Homily 2 on Psalm 77 318 Homily 3 on Psalm 77 334 Homily 4 on Psalm 77 340 Homily 5 on Psalm 77 356 Homily 6 on Psalm 77 367 Homily 7 on Psalm 77 377 Homily 8 on Psalm 77 393 Homily 9 on Psalm 77 410 Homily 1 on Psalm 80 424 Homily 2 on Psalm 80 440 Homily on Psalm 81 454 Indices 466 General Index 468 Index of Holy Scripture 489 "In 2012 a previously unknown manuscript, containing 3rd-century writings, was discovered in a Munich library. Named Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, it contains 29 homilies in their original language, which is ancient Greek. Most of them had been previously unknown altogether, and a few had been known only in a subsequent Latin translation. Their author is the 3rd-century Christian theologian Origen (native of Alexandria, Egypt; died in Caesarea, Palestine). This book is the first English translation of these Greek homilies. In the homilies Origen provides interpretations of Psalms (of the Bible) -- interpretations that employ concepts of classical Greek theology and a three-level method of biblical interpretation (literal, moral, allegorical). He addresses questions about the goal of the Christian life, the church, the incarnation of Christ, and human nature"-- Provided by publisher