Homilies on Genesis and Exodus

The Latin Translations of Rufinus of Aquileia

INTRODUCTION 27 sixteen on Leviticus, twenty-eight on Numbers, twenty-six on Joshua, nine onJudges, and nine on Psalms. In addition, there is an anonymous Latin translation of the Commentary on Matthew from Matthew 16.13 to 27.63, an anonymous translation ofa homily on 1Samuel 1-2, plus fragments ofother homilies. More ofOrigen's works have been preserved in Latin translations than in their original Greek form. The bulk of these Latin translations which have survived, including the homilies on Genesis and Exodus, were done by Rufinus of Aquileia. The Latin Translations of Rufinus of Aquileia In A.D. 397, after spending twenty-five years in the East, Rufinus left his monastery on the Mount of Olives and returned to Italy.140 He brought with him a collection of Greek Christian manuscripts. Several of Origen's works were among those manuscripts. Rufinus was an ardent admirer of Origen and appears to have been one of the few men at that time who was thoroughly acquainted with his works and thought. Before going to Jerusalem he had spent a total of eight years in Alexandria where he had studied under Didymus the Blind, the famous Origenist , and Gregory of Nazianzus, compiler, along with Basil, of the Philocalia of Origen.141 When Atarbius, Epiphanius' emissary, and later Epiphanius himself, had visited Jerusalem and Bethlehem to condemn Origenism, Rufinus refused to yield to their pressure. Jerome, who had been as fervent an admirer ofOrigen as Rufinus, was less resolute. Thus was born the infamous quarrel over Origen between Jerome and his life-long friend Rufinus. It is not necessary to follow the 140 For Rufinus' life, see F. Murphy, Rufinus ofAquileia (345-411): His Life and Works (Catholic University of America Press: Washington, D.C., 1945); C. Hammond, "The Last Ten Years of Rufinus' Life and the Date of His Move South from Aquileia," TheJournal afTheological Studies n.S. 28 (1977): 372-429; NeE, S.v. "Rufinus of Aquileia." Murphy's work is hereinafter cited as Murphy, Rufinus ofAquileia; Hammond's as Hammond, "The Last Ten Years." 141 Rufinus, Apol. 1.43, 2.12. 28 ORIGEN tortuous path of that quarrel here, but only to point out that Rufinus remained a staunch supporter of Origen till his death.142 Rufinus launched his translation activities almost immediately on his arrival in Italy. Our brief survey will take notice only of those works of Origen which he translated and those directly related to Origen.143 He began in 397, at the request of Macarius in Rome, by translating the first book of Pamphilus' Apology to which he appended a treatise of his own On the Falsification ofthe Books ofOrigen. Next, Macarius requested that he translate Origen's On First Principles. Rufinus completed the first two books of this treatise in the early weeks ofLent in 398, with Macarius constantly at his side encouraging him. He began translating the last two books ofthis work after Easter, at a more leisurely pace since Macarius was no longer present to prod him. Before leaving Rome for Aquileia in the latter half of 398, he translated nine homilies of Origen on the thirtysixth , thirty-seventh, and thirty-eighth Psalms for Apronianus .144 In Aquileia sometime perhaps late in 399 Rufinus translated the Dialogue of Adamantius for a certain Paul who is otherwise unknown. Rufinus considered this dialogue to have been written by Origen, perhaps misled because of the name 142 The details of that controversy have been set forth in Vol. 53 ofthis series, ]. Hritzu, trans., Saint jerome: Dogmatic and Polemical Works, FOTC 53 (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 1965), 47-58. See also Murphy, Rufinus ofAquileia, 82ff.; and]. Kelly,Jerome: His Life, Writings, and Controversies (New York: Harper and Row, 1975), 195-258. 143 My survey is based on the information in Murphy, Rufinus ofAquileia. It was during this same period (397-411), when he was translating the various works of Origen that Rufinus also translated Clement's Letter to james, Basil's Rules, eight homilies of Basil, nine orations of Gregory of Nazianzus, The Sentences of Sextus, Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, the Historia Monachorum, the Sentences of Evagrius, and the Clementine Recognitions . He also composed all of his own original works in this same final fifteen year period of his life. 144 It should be noted that C. Hammond, "The Last Ten Years," 428-29, assigns different dates to some of Rufinus' translations, though he dates them all in the same general period...