Preface

 Chapters

 THE PHILOCALIA OF ORIGEN

 CHAP. II. ----That the Divine Scripture is closed up and sealed. From the Commentary on the 1st Psalm.

 CHAP. III. ---- Why the inspired books are twenty-two in number. From the same volume on the 1st Psalm.

 CHAP. IV. ----Of the solecisms and poor style of Scripture. From Volume IV. of the Commentaries on the Gospel according to John, three or four pages f

 CHAP. V. ---- What is much speaking, and what are the many books? The whole inspired Scripture is one book. From the Introduction to Volume V. of

 CHAP. VI. ----The whole Divine Scripture is one instrument of God, perfect and fitted for its work. From Volume II. of the Commentaries on the Gospel

 CHAP. VII. ----Of the special character of the persons of Divine Scripture. From the small volume on the Song of Songs, which Origen wrote in his yout

 CHAP. VIII. ----That we need not attempt to correct the solecistic phrases of Scripture, and those which are unintelligible according to the letter, s

 CHAP. IX. ---- Why it is that the Divine Scripture often uses the same term in different significations, even in the same place. From the Epistle to t

 CHAP. X. ----Of things in the Divine Scripture which seem to come near to being a stumbling-block and rock of offence. From the 39th Homily on Jeremia

 CHAP. XI. ----That we must seek the nourishment supplied by all inspired Scripture, and not turn from the passages troubled by heretics with ill-advis

 CHAP. XII. ----That a man ought not to faint in reading the Divine Scripture if he cannot comprehend the dark riddles and parables therein. From the 2

 CHAP. XIII. ---- When and to whom the lessons of philosophy may be profitable, in the explanation of the sacred Scriptures, with Scripture proof. The

 CHAP. XIV. ----They who wish to rightly understand the Divine Scriptures must of necessity be acquainted with the logical principles adapted to their

 CHAP. XV. ----A reply to the Greek philosophers who disparage the poverty of style of the Divine Scriptures, and allege that the noble truths of Chris

 CHAP. XVI. ----Concerning those who slander Christianity on account of the heresies in the Church. Book III. against Celsus.

 CHAP. XVII. ----A reply to certain philosophers who say that it makes no difference whether we call Him Who is God over All by the name Zeus, current

 CHAP. XVIII. ----A reply to those Greek philosophers who profess to know everything, and blame the simple faith of the man of Christians and complain

 CHAP. XIX. ----And again, earlier in the same book, Origen says, That our faith in our Lord has nothing in common with the irrational superstitious fa

 CHAP. XX. ----A reply to those who say that the whole world, including man, was made not for man, but for the irrational creatures for the irrational

 CHAP. XXI. ----Of Free Will, with an explanation and interpretation of those sayings of Scripture which seem to destroy it such as the following:----

 CHAP. XXII. ---- What is the dispersion on earth of rational, that is, human souls, indicated under a veil in the building of the tower, and the confu

 CHAP. XXIII. ----Of Fate, and how though God foreknows the conduct of every one, human responsibility remains the same. Further, how the stars are not

 CHAP. XXIV. ----Matter is not uncreated, or the cause of evil. From Book VII. of the Praeparatio Evangelica of Eusebius of Palestine.

 CHAP. XXV. ----That the separation which arises from foreknowledge does not do away with Free Will. From Book I. of the Commentary on the Epistle to

 CHAP. XXVI. ----Of the question of things goodand evil that they partly depend on our own efforts and partly do not and (that) according to the

 CHAP. XXVII. ----The meaning of the Lord's hardening Pharaoh's heart.

CHAP. III. ---- Why the inspired books are twenty-two 137 in number. From the same volume on the 1st Psalm.

As we are dealing with numbers, and every number has among real existences a certain significance, of which the Creator of the universe made full use as well in the general scheme as in the arrangement of the details, we must give good heed, and with the help of the Scriptures trace their meaning, and the meaning of each of them. Nor must we fail to observe that not without reason the canonical books are twenty-two,138 according to the Hebrew tradition, the same in number as the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. For as the twenty-two letters may be regarded as an introduction to the wisdom and the Divine doctrines given to men in those Characters, so the twenty-two inspired books are an alphabet of the wisdom of God and an introduction to the knowledge of realities.  

[1] Διὰ τί κβʹ τὰ θεόπνευστα βιβλία. ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αʹ ψαλμὸν τόμου. Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἐν τῷ περὶ ἀριθμῶν τόπῳ, ἑκάστου ἀριθμοῦ δύναμίν τινα ἔχοντος ἐν τοῖς οὖσιν, ᾗ κατεχρήσατο ὁ τῶν ὅλων δημιουργὸς εἰς τὴν σύστασιν ὁτὲ μὲν τοῦ παντὸς ὁτὲ δὲ εἴδους τινὸς τῶν ἐν μέρει, προσέχειν δεῖ καὶ ἐξιχνεύειν ἀπὸ τῶν γραφῶν τὰ περὶ αὐτῶν καὶ ἑνὸς ἑκάστου αὐτῶν: οὐκ ἀγνοητέον ὅτι καὶ τὸ εἶναι τὰς ἐνδιαθήκους βίβλους, ὡς Ἑβραῖοι παραδιδόασι, δύο καὶ εἴκοσι, οἷς ὁ ἴσος ἀριθμὸς τῶν παρ' αὐτοῖς στοιχείων ἐστὶν, οὐκ ἄλογον τυγχάνει. ὡς γὰρ τὰ κβʹ στοιχεῖα εἰσαγωγὴ δοκεῖ εἶναι εἰς τὴν σοφίαν καὶ τὰ θεῖα διδάγματα τοῖς χαρακτῆρσι τούτοις ἐντυπούμενα τοῖς ἀνθρώποις: οὕτω στοιχείωσίς ἐστιν εἰς τὴν σοφίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, καὶ εἰσαγωγὴ εἰς τὴν γνῶσιν τῶν ὄντων, τὰ κβʹ θεόπνευστα βιβλία.