"A Place to Worship the Lord Our God": Origen's Exegesis of the Holy Land in His Homilies on the Prophets

Origen regularly explains biblical places named in the Bible as allegories referring to spiritual meanings. In the homilies on Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the frequent mentions of geographical locations are also consistently interpreted along this standard in original and distinctive ways, as compared with the previous interpretations of biblical geography among the Christian authors of the first three centuries. After a preliminary inspection of these different explanations, the paper will focus on the few cases where Origen refers to the promised land as ἁγία γῆ or terra sancta. In particular, HIer VII and HEz XI can be compared due to some recurring themes dealt from complementary points of view. On the one hand, this analysis deepens and enriches Origen’s concept of “holy land” in the perspective of pre-Constantinian Christianity; on the other hand, it provides meaningful examples of his rhetorical and preaching techniques, highlighting that his interpretations are presented as works in progress, whose nuances are liable to be influenced by the biblical context, in order to fit into a wider coherent framework. The images Origen evokes in the Homilies on the Prophets also find a reference in the Homilies on the Psalms, proving once again the multifaceted and creative coherence of the Alexandrian's exegesis.