'Passio Caritatis' according to Origen In Ezechielem Homiliae VI in the light of DT 1,31

Abstract

AbstractThe idea of divine impassibility, which was firmly established in philosophical traditions, was also sustained by early Christian thinkers. Biblical references to God's passions were regarded as anthropomorphic expressions, which had to be interpreted in a metaphorical sense.Origen adheres to this type of interpretation, but in his sermons on Ezekiel he deals explicitly with God's caritatis passio, so that he appears to bring about un undeniable contradiction between divine impassibility and divine passibility. Origen solves this problem by arguing that the 'passion of charity' or 'philanthropy' must belong to the pre-existent Logos. In fact, it is the very reason for incarnation.