Many Kingdoms

Qui quaesierit, inquit, animam suam salvare, perdet et qui perdiderit eam, salvabit eam. Martyres quaerunt salvare animam suam: propterea perdunt, ut salvent eam. Qui vero volunt salvare animam suam, ut non perdant eam, hi et corpus corpus et animam perdunt pariter in gehennam. Quamobrem nolite timere eos, ait, qui possunt corpus occidere, sed timete magis eum qui potest animam et corpus perdere in gehennam. Hoc ad propositum, juxta vires ingenii nostri breviter dixerimus. Animalis autem non recipit ea quae sunt spiritus: et idcirco salvari non potest. Seminatur corpus animale, surgit corpus spiritale. Porro qui adhaeret Domino, spiritus unus efficitur. Si ergo qui Domino copulatur, cum animalis esset per id in spiritalem vertitur, et unus est spiritus: nos quoque perdamus animam nostram, ut adhaerentes Domino in unum spiritum transformemur. Sed et de regno Dei interrogatus, respondit Salvator Pharisaeis: Quando venerit, inquit, non venit regnum Dei cum observatione, neque dicunt, ecce hic, aut ecce ibi. Regnum enim Dei intra vos est. Non omnibus Salvator dicit, regnum Dei intra vos est: siquidem in peccatoribus regnum peccati est, et absque ulla ambiguitate, aut regnum peccati, aut regnum Dei in corde nostro imperat. Unde sive quae facimus, sive quae loquimur, sive quae cogitamus, contemplemur attentius, et tunc videbimus utrum Dei imperium regnet in nobis, an imperium delictorum. Quam diversitatem sciens Apostolus, quosdam commonet, dicens: Non regnet peccatum in mortali vestro corpore. Si quis nostrum desiderat regnum Dei, regnatur ab eo. Si quis avaritiae ardore cruciatur, regnatur ab avaritia. Porro qui injustitiam reginam habet, regnatur ab ea. Qui vanae gloriae ambitione sustollitur, regnat ei aura popularis. Qui moeret, qui aliquid reformidat, qui amat, qui desiderat, imperant ei singula, prout perturbationibus variis possidetur. Quae omnia cognoscentes, et quam multa sint genera regnorum, surgamus precemurque Deum, ut auferat a nobis regnum inimici, et possimus sub regno esse Dei omnipotentis, id est sub regno sapientiae, pacis, justitiae, veritatis, quae cuncta in unigenito Dei Filio intelliguntur, cui est gloria et imperium in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Origenes, Homiliae in Lucam, Homilia XXXVI, De eo quod scriptum est: Qui voluerit animam suam salvare, perdet eam, usque ad eum locum ubi ait: Regnum Dei intra vos est, Interprete Sancto Hieronymo Source: Migne PG 13.1894b-1895b

'He who seeks to save his soul,' He says 'shall lose it, and he who loses it shall save it.' 1 Martyrs seek to save their souls , because of which they perish so that they might save them. However, he who wishes to save his soul so that he might not lose it, he loses both his body and soul in hell. 'Do not fear those, He says, 'who can kill the body, but fear more Him who can destroy the soul and the body in hell. 2 Concerning this, according to the men of our understanding, we shall speak briefly. 'But the animal man cannot receive the things of the spirit,' and thus cannot be saved. 'The animal body is sown, the spiritual body rises up.' 3 But he who adheres to the Lord is made one spirit. Therefore if he who is bound to the Lord by that turns what is animal into what is spiritual, the spirit is one, and we lose our own souls, so that adhering to the Lord we might be transformed into one spirit. Then questioned about the kingdom of God, the Saviour answers the Pharisees: 'When it comes, the kingdom of heaven does not come before the eye, nor will they say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' but the kingdom of God is within you.' 4 He does not say 'the kingdom of God is within you,' to everyone, for certainly the kingdom of sin reigns in those who sin, and without any doubt either the kingdom of sin or the kingdom of God reigns in us. Therefore let us carefully think on what we do and what we say and what we think, and then we shall see whether it is the kingdom of God that reigns in us or the kingdom of the wicked. Which difference the Apostle understood, warning them: 'Do not let sin reign in your bodies.' 5 If one of us desires the kingdom of God, it reigns in us. If someone is troubled by avarice, avarice reigns in him. But he who has the kingdom of unrighteousness, he is ruled by that. He who is puffed up with the vainglory of ambition is ruled by the whims of the people. He who groans or fears something, and he who desires, he is ruled by that, and without doubt possessed by various troubles. Which all knowing, let us rise up and pray to God, that as there are many types of kingdoms, He will take from us the kingdom of the enemy, even so that we are able to come under the reign of almighty God, that is, under the reign of wisdom and peace and righteousness and truth, which are all understood in the only begotten Son of God, to whom be glory and rule forever. Origen, Homilies on Luke, from Homily 36, , On that which is written: 'He who wishes to save his soul shall lose it...' to where it is said, 'the kingdom of God is within you.' Translated by Saint Jerome 1 Lk 17.33 2 Lk 12.4-5 3 1 Cor 2.14, 1 Cor 15.44 4 Lk 17.20-21 5 Rom 6.12