Origen: Marcion removed 'the essentials of the Gospels'

[Peter Kirby]

In this context, Origen had just suggested a conjectural emendation of his own.

https://alexpoulos.com/2019/08/28/text- ... -on-ps-77/

So we see that the devil plots against the scriptures, but we must not, therefore, rashly resort to correcting the text. For Marcion suffered from something of this sort in supposing that the scriptures were in error and that the devil had brought about additions. So he entrusted himself with the task of correcting the scripture. In so doing, he cut out from the foundations necessary parts of the gospels, like the birth of the savior, and countless others, like the visions and prophecies, and necessary parts of the apostle.

Unlike those who claimed that Marcion had singled out Luke in order to corrupt it, here Origen claims that Marcion had removed the essentials (τὰ ἀναγκαῖα) "of the gospels" (τῶν εὐαγγελίων) and "of the apostle" (τοῦ ἀποστόλου).

It shouldn't be supposed that Origen had a historical tradition that he's citing, but nonetheless Origen characterizes the work of Marcion as having good intentions but being rash in its corrections. Notably, Origen says "of the gospels" (τῶν εὐαγγελίων), not of the gospel or of Luke. Origen wouldn't need a prior tradition for this either, given that Origen may have known a little about the text. For example, I just posted about a neglected Marcionite gospel reference that is preserved in Origen's Homily on Luke:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=11984

This is a reference to material that isn't in Luke. However Origen obtained his knowledge about the text, he was capable enough as a critic to be able to draw a conclusion that Marcion did not use Luke exclusively. The passage suggests that he so concluded.

[Peter Kirby]

The Greek text (p. 352):

Ἐπιβουλεύει τοίνυν καὶ ταῖς γραφαῖς ὁ διάβολος, ἀλλὰ οὐ διὰ τοῦτο ἡμᾶς χρὴ τολμᾶν καὶ προπετῶς ἥκειν ἐπὶ τὴν διόρθωσιν. Τοιοῦτον γάρ τι παθὼν καὶ ὁ Μαρκίων καὶ ὑπολαβὼν ἡμαρτῆσθαι τὰς γραφὰς καὶ τοῦ διαβόλου γεγονέναι παρεγγραφάς, ἐπέτρεψεν ἑαυτῷ διορθοῦν τὴν γραφήν. Καὶ ἐπιτρέψας, ἦρεν ἐκ βάθρων τὰ ἀναγκαῖα τῶν εὐαγγελίων, τὴν γένεσιν τοῦ σωτῆρος, καὶ ἄλλα μυρία, καὶ ὀπτασίας καὶ προφητείας καὶ τὰ ἀναγκαῖα τοῦ ἀποστόλου.

The devil plots even through Scriptures, but for this reason, we should not dare and rashly approach correction. For someone like Marcion, having experienced something similar and assuming that the Scriptures are wrong and that interpolations of the devil came to be, allowed himself to correct the Scriptures. And having done so, he removed, from foundation, the essentials of the gospels, such as the birth of the Savior, and many other things, including visions, prophecies, and the essentials of the apostle.

the Greek text is from: https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/ ... ml?lang=en

The editio princeps of Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, the collection of Origen's Homilies on the Psalms was discovered by Marina Molin Pradel in april 2012. The Munich manuscript is the major text discovery on Origen, seventy years after the find of the Tura papyri in 1941. The 29 homilies provide the original Greek text of four Homilies on Psalm 36, translated by Rufinus into Latin at the beginning of the fifth century, together with twenty-five new sermons. Only parts of them were known through tiny excerpts preserved in the exegetical anthologies of the catenae. The list of the sermons essentially corresponds to the catalogue of Origen's Homilies on the Psalms in Jerome's Letter 33. It includes two homilies on Ps. 15, four on Ps. 36, two on Ps. 67, three on Ps. 73, one on Ps. 74, one on Ps. 75, four on Ps. 76, nine on Ps. 77, two on Ps. 80, and one on Ps. 81. Beyond recovering for us Origen as the great interpreter of the Psalms, the sermons throw new light on his life and thought, and provide insights into the situation of the Church in the third century CE.

So the text hasn't been available for that long, in the scheme of things.