TRV
Origen of Alexandria
Ante-Nicene · to AD 325
2,651 passages across 61 books of the Bible · Who was this?
On Mark
20 of 63-
Mark 11:2
Note that the place where the ass was found tied was a village, and a village without a name. For in comparison with the great world in heaven, the whole earth is a village.
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Mark 12:17
For the sake of those who were in captivity, like the bondage of the Hebrews, the Son of God took upon himself the form of a slave, yet doing nothing worldly or servile. As one who came in the form of a slave, he paid tax and tribute for us, in the same way that a restitution would be paid for his blood and that of his disciples.… Therefore, let anyone who possesses the things of Caesar render freely them to Caesar, so that he may be able then to render freely to God the things of God.… Just as our Lord paid our debt, not having initiated it, nor expended it, nor acquired it, nor at any time made it his own possession.
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Mark 12:30
When you decide to keep the command of this precept and reject all other gods and lords and have no god or lord except the one God and Lord, you have declared war on all others without treaty. When, therefore, we come to the grace of baptism, renouncing all other gods and lords, we confess the only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
ON EXODUS, HOMILY 8.4
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Mark 13:1
The temple was not overthrown all at once, but gradually as time went by. Similarly, every one who welcomes the Word of God into himself is something like a temple. If, after committing sin he does not completely fall away from the Word of God, but still partially preserves in himself traces of faith and accountability to God’s commands, he is a temple partly destroyed, partly standing. But he who after sinning has no care for himself but is always prone to depart from faith and from life according to the gospel, till he completely departs from the living God, he is a temple in which no stone of doctrine is left upon any stone and not thrown down.
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Mark 13:6
Christ is truth. Antichrist falsifies truth. Christ is wisdom. Antichrist deftly simulates wisdom. All genuine excellences have a correspondence with Christ. All pretended virtues correspond with Antichrist. For each variety of good which Christ embodies in himself to build up the faithful, the demonic will find a way of mimicking in appearance to deceive the faithful.
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Mark 13:8
Just as bodies become sick before their death if they do not suffer violence from without, and in all cases the way of separation of soul from body comes through weakness, so it happens with the whole course of the world creation. When the creation begins to decay, having as it has both beginning and end, it must grow weak before its dissolution. At this point the earth may be frequently shaken with earthquakes. The air having received some diseased contagion may become overrun with pestilence. Moreover the vital energies of the earth itself may suddenly fail and strangle its fruits. These destructive forces may pollute the regenerative capacity of all trees.
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Mark 13:10
It is evident that the gospel of the kingdom has not yet been preached in all the world. It is not reported to have been preached among all the Ethiopians, especially among those beyond the river, nor among the Serae, nor in the East. What are we to say of the Britons, or of the Germans along the ocean, or of the barbarians, Dacians, Samaritans and Scythians, the greatest part of whom have not yet heard the word of the gospel, but who will certainly hear it by the time of the end? If any one is minded to say rashly that the gospel of the kingdom has already been preached in all the world as a testimony to all nations, he will consequently be constrained to say that the end has already come! That would be a most rash statement indicating a lack of understanding.
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Mark 13:14
By the holy place is to be understood every saying of divine Scripture spoken by the prophets from Moses onwards, and by the Evangelists and apostles. In this holy place of all the Scriptures, Antichrist, the false Word, has often stood. This is the abomination of desolation.
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Mark 13:14
He who flees ought to know the place to which he ought to flee, and also to pray that he may not flee in the time which is opposed to flight.
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Mark 13:22
While Antichrist is generically one, there may be many species of him. It is as if one would say that falsehood is generically one, but according to the differences of false doctrines there are found many specific falsehoods.… “If possible” is a hyperbole. For he did not suggest or indicate that even the elect are to be thrown into error, but wishes to show that often the words of the heretics are exceedingly plausible and have power to move even those who hear them wisely. Every word professing to be truth while not the truth, whether among gentiles or barbarians, is in a sense Antichrist, seeking to mislead as though the truth, and to separate from the One who said, “I am the truth.”
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Mark 13:31
Although heaven and earth, and the things that are in them, may pass away, yet his divine speech regarding each individual thing, whether viewed as parts of a whole or species of a genus, shall by no means pass away. The utterances of God the Word, who was in the beginning with God, will not come to nothing.
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Mark 14:5
The traitor Judas, who in appearance championed the cause of the poor, said with indignation, “This ointment might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor.” But in reality he “was a thief, and as he had the money box he used to take what was put into it.” If, then, any one in our time who has the money box of the church speaks like Judas as if speaking for the poor, but steals what is placed there, let there be assigned to him the same portion along with Judas.
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Mark 14:6-7
(in Matt. 35.) For they were grieved at the waste of the ointment, which might be sold for a large sum and given to the poor. This however ought not to have been, for it was right that it should be poured over the head of Christ, with a holy and fitting stream; wherefore it goes on, She hath wrought a good work on me. And so effectual is the praise of this good work, that it ought to excite all of us to fill the head of the Lord with sweet smelling and rich offerings, that of us it may be said that we have done a good work over the head of the Lord. For we always have with us, as long as we remain in this life, the poor who have need of the care of those who have made progress in the word, and are enriched in the wisdom of God; they are not however able always day and night to have with them the Son of God, that is, the Word and Wisdom of God. For it goes on: For ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good; but me ye have not always.
(as quoted by Aquinas, AD 1274) Catena Aurea by Aquinas
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Mark 14:18
While he might have at once specially pointed out the betrayer, he did not do so, but said generally, “One of you will betray me,” so the character of each might be tested by the witness of his astonished heart. This underscored the goodness of the disciples who believed Christ’s words more than their own consciousness, and the wickedness of Judas because he did not believe the One who knew his plans. He embraced the obscurity by lying through his own teeth.
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Mark 14:19
If the eleven apostles were of good conscience, having not in any way betrayed their teacher, why were they grieved, as though it might have been that he was speaking of one of them? I think that each of them knew from Jesus’ teaching that human freedom is infinitely changeable and may easily be turned toward evil. It may happen, in the struggle against principalities and powers and rulers of this world of darkness, that one may fall quite unexpectedly into evil, either being deceived or overcome by demonic powers. Thus, each disciple feared lest it might be he who was foreknown as betrayer.
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Mark 14:20
Seeing that the disciples were disturbed, Jesus called the betrayer to accountability by poignantly recalling the prophetic words of the psalmist: “Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” This corresponds to the Evangelist’s report of him saying: “It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the dish with me.” Judas the betrayer was thrusting his hand into the very same dish along with Jesus as they were eating the passover meal. This highlighted Judas’ shamelessness. The very one who was being generously received to a common table betrayed Jesus who had embraced him with such great affection. He betrayed the bestower of these good gifts for the promise of thirty pieces of silver. Isn’t this especially characteristic of extremely malevolent persons—to plot against those with whom they have shared bread and salt, who would in no way injure them?
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Mark 14:21
There was another by whom he was betrayed, namely, the devil, of whom Judas was the instrument. The “woe” is not only for Judas, but for all who betray Christ.
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Mark 14:22
That bread which God the Word confesses to be his own body is the Word that nourishes souls, the Word proceeding from God, the very bread that comes from the living bread which is set out upon our table of which was written: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” That drink which God the Word confesses to be his blood is the Word that gives refreshment and exhilarates the heart.… This drink is the fruit of the true vine, the blood of that grape cast in the winepress of the passion. So also the bread is the word of Christ made from that corn which, falling onto the good ground, brought forth much fruit. He was not speaking of the visible bread alone which he was holding in his hands as he called it his body. It is the word in the mystery of which that bread was to be broken. Nor did he call that visible drink as such his blood, but the word in the mystery of which that drink was to be poured out. For to what else could the body and blood of the Lord refer other than the atoning Word that nourishes and gladdens the heart? Why did he not say, “This is my bread…
That bread which God the Word confesses to be his own body is the Word that nourishes souls, the Word proceeding from God, the very bread that comes from the living bread which is set out upon our table of which was written: “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” That drink which God the Word confesses to be his blood is the Word that gives refreshment and exhilarates the heart.… This drink is the fruit of the true vine, the blood of that grape cast in the winepress of the passion. So also the bread is the word of Christ made from that corn which, falling onto the good ground, brought forth much fruit. He was not speaking of the visible bread alone which he was holding in his hands as he called it his body. It is the word in the mystery of which that bread was to be broken. Nor did he call that visible drink as such his blood, but the word in the mystery of which that drink was to be poured out. For to what else could the body and blood of the Lord refer other than the atoning Word that nourishes and gladdens the heart? Why did he not say, “This is my bread of the New Testament” just as he said, “This is my blood of the New Testament?” Because the bread is the word of righteousness, by the eating of which souls are nourished. The drink is the word of knowledge of Christ according to the mystery of his birth and passion. -
Mark 14:34
He was troubled, as we are told, in the hour of death, as he himself confesses when he says, “My soul is sorrowful even unto death.” He was finally led to that death which is considered the most shameful of all. On the third day he rose again. When, therefore, we see in him some things so human that they appear in no way to differ from the common frailty of mortals, and some things so divine that they are appropriate to nothing else but the primal and ineffable nature of deity, the human understanding with its own narrow limits is baffled, and struck with amazement at so mighty a wonder. It does not know which way to turn, what to hold to, or how to establish itself.
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Mark 14:38
We do not pray that we will never be tempted at all. For that is impossible. We pray rather that we not be encompassed by temptation.