La creazione dell’essere umano secondo la Prima Omelia di Origene al Libro della Genesi

Abstract

The present essay analyzes the First Homily of Origen on the Book of Genesis, from the12th chapter to the end of the Homily in the 17th chapter, thus covering the section concerning the doctrine of the Great Alexandrine about the creation of the human being.The chapters present a typical feature of the origenian way of proceeding in exegesis: the alternation between the “historical” and the “spiritual” meaning of the events narrated, since he interprets the Biblical passages per allegoriam. The “dominion” over the waters (the heavenly waters) on earth is understood as that of the mens, the sensus spiritalis ruling over matter, over the “flesh”, namely over the sensus carnis.The dignity of the human being is widely stated since the human being is directly created by God, just as the fundamental cosmic realities (the heavens, the earth, the sun and the moon), and the notion of “image” shall be understood as referring not to the body, but rather to the “interior human being”, in clear opposititon to the widespread anthropological conceptions of his times. The image according to which the human being is created is the Christ-Logos; nevertheless, the human being created “at the image of God” has gained, through sin, the image of the devil, which he is called to abandon in order to assume the likeness of Christ.The literal sense is applied to the creation of the “male and the female” inasmuch as anticipation of the future creation of the woman, whereas according to the spiritual sense such creation indicates the interior human being, formed ex spiritu et anima. Origen presents and develops at this point the spousal symbology of the spiritual couple, Cf. Mt 7, 6.Origenes, Homilia Prima in Genesin 17, in: Origenis, Opera omnia quae graece vel latine tantum extant et eius nomine circumferuntu, 129: “[...] sensum Christi accipere, et scire ≪quae a Deo donata sunt nobis≫: et quae nobis ad escam data sunt, non faciamus escas porcorum, vel canum [...]” (traduzione italiana: M.I. Danieli (ed.), Origene, Omelie, 61). Cf. Gv 14, 23. Cf. 1 Cor 6, 19. Origenes, Homilia Prima in Genesin 17, in: Origenis, Opera omnia quae graece vel latine tantum extant et eius nomine circumferuntu, 129–130: “[...] quibus dignum sit suscipi in hospitio cordis nostri verbum ac filium Dei venientem cum patre suo, et volentem facere apud nos mansionem in Spiritu sancto, cuius prius templum per sanctitatem debemus existere” (traduzione italiana: M. I. Danieli (ed.), Origene, Omelie, 61–62). from whose harmony the dominion over the “earth” springs, meaning the dominion over the sensus carnis and the corporeae voluptates. Origen observes that “our interior man is made of spirit and soul: the spirit is said to be the male, and the soul can be called the female”. He indicates in the concordiaand the consensus–with an evident reference to the theme of between the spouses (see 1 Cor 7: 5)—the two elements of the necessary condition for the procreation of children, meaning of those good thoughts capable of populating the “earth”, identified with the subiectum sibi sensus carnis. Origen is the first author to introduce such idea and its specific language when widely explaining creation. The “interior human being” is conceived as dychotomic with reference to the corporeal, material human being and as following a totally opposite direction. The “image” – or, rather, the being made at the image – can be affirmed solely of the “interior human being” inasmuch as it identifies with the superior part of the soul, called “intellect” (mens, intellectus), which is the subject of reason.Origen is quite conscious of the problem of the dualism–in fact, the opposition– between the interior and the exterior human being, as found in St. Paul, whose doctrine resonates in Origen’s theological stress of the visible and the invisible. The opposition between the interior and the exterior human being, as well as their analogy, is extended also to the human functions, where two ways of the intellect are found, two forms of love, and two moral tasks.Origen’s way of arranging the discourse on the creation of the human being leads him to use the spousal symbology and the feminine character of the soul, considered as inferior with reference to the spiritus, since it is right the responsibility of the soul to push the human being towards corporeal and earthly passions, presented in terms of adultery. In conclusion, after having recalled–through a literal exegesis–the “dominion” over the animals carried out by the first couple, Origen presents–through a spiritual exegesis–their “dominion” over vices, both springing from the soul and from the body.