The Scriptural Herbalist

Ἐάν ποτε ἀναγινώσκων τὴν Γραγὴν προσκόψῃς νοήματι ὄντι καλῷ, λίθῳ προσκόμματος, καὶ πέτρᾳ σκανδάλου, αἰτιῶ σαυτόν· μὴ ἀπελπίσῃς γὰρ τὸν λίθον τοῦτον τοῦ προσκόμματος καὶ τὴν πέτραν τοῦ σκανδάλου ἔχειν νοήματα, ὥστ' ἄν γενέσθαι τὸ εἰρημένον· Καὶ ὁ πιστεύων οὐ καταισχυνθήσεται. Πίστευσον πρῶτον, καὶ εὐρήσεις ὑπὸ τὸ νομιζόμενον σκάνδαλον πολλὴν ὠφέλειαν ἁγίαν. Εἰ γὰρ ἡμεῖς ἐντολὴν ἐλάβομεν μὴ λέγειν ῥῆμα ἀργὸν, ὡς δώσοντες περὶ αὐτοῦ λόγον ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως, καὶ ὅση δύναμις φιλοτιμούμεθα πᾶν ῥῆμα τὸ ἐξιὸν ἐκ τοῦ στόματος ἡμῶν ποιεῖν ἐργάζεσθαι καὶ ἐν ἡμῖν τοῖς λέγουσι καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἀκούουσι· τί χρὴ ποεῖν περὶ τῶν προφητῶν, ἤ ὅτι πᾶν ῥῆμα λαληθὲν διὰ στόματος αὐτῶν ἐργατικὸν ἧν; Καὶ οὐ θαυμαστὸν εἰ πᾰν ῥῆμα τὸ λαλούμενον ὑπὸ τῶν προφητῶν εἰργαζετο ἔργον τὸ πρέπον ῥήματι· ἀλλα γὰρ οἴμαι, ὅτι καὶ πᾶν θαυμάσιον γράμμα τὸ γεγραμμένον ἐν τοῖς λογίοις τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐργάζεται· καὶ οὐκ ἔστιν ἰῶτα ἔν, ἢ μία κεραὶα γεγραμμένη ἐν τῇ Γραφῇ, ἥτις τοῖς ἐπισταμένοις χρῆσθαι τῇ δυνάμει τῶν γραμμάτων οὐκ ἐργάζεται τὸ ἑαυτῆς ἔργον. Ὥωπερ δὲ ἐπὶ τῶν βοτανῶν ἐκάστη μὲν ἔχει δύναμιν εἴτε εἰς τὴν ὑγίειαν σωμάτων, εἴτε εἰς ὅ τι δήποτε· οὐ πάντων δέ ἐστιν ἐπίστασθαι εἰς ὅ ἐκάστη τῶν βοτανῶν ἐστι χρήσιμος, ἀλλ' εἴ τινες ἐπιστήμην εἰλήφασιν, οὖτοι οἱ περὶ τὰς βοτάνας διατρίβοντες, ἵνα ἵδωσι καὶ πότε παραλαμβανομένη, καὶ ποῦ τῶν σωμάτων ἐπιθεμένη, καὶ τίνα τρόπον σκευαζομένη ὀνίνησι τὸν χρὼμενον· οὔτως οἰονει τιη βοτανικός ἐστιν ὁ ἅγιος καὶ πνευματικὸς, ἀναλεγόμενος ἀπὸ τῶν ἱερῶν γραμμάτων ἔκαστον ἰῶτα, καὶ ἒκαστον τὸ τυχὸν στοιχεῖον, καὶ εὑρίσκων τὴν δύναμιν τοῦ γράμματος, καὶ εἰς ὅ τι ἐστὶ χρήσιμον, καὶ ὅτι οὐδὲν παρέλκει τῶν γεγραμμένων. Ὠριγένης, Ὁμιλια ΛΘ' Εἰς Τὸν Ἱερεμίαν

If when reading the Scripture you stumble at something which is a fair stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, blame yourself, for you must not despair of finding in this stone of stumbling and rock of offence thoughts to justify the saying, 'He that believes shall not be ashamed.'1  First believe and you shall find beneath what is thought to be a stumbling stone or scandalous passage much holy profit. For if we received a commandment to speak no idle word because we shall give account of it in the day of judgment, and if we must with all our might strive to make every word proceeding out of our mouths an effective word both in ourselves who speak and in those who hear, must we not conclude that every word spoken through the Prophets was fit for its work? And it is not to be wondered that every word spoken by the Prophets had its proper work, but I think that every letter, however wonderful,  which is written in the Scriptures of God, does its work, and there is not one line or dot written in Scripture, which, when men know how to extract the power of, it does not work its own work. As each herb has its own power, whether for the healing of the body, or some other purpose,  and it is not given to everybody to know the use of every single herb, but certain persons have  acquired the knowledge by the study of plants, that they might know when a herb is to be used, and to what part of the body it should be applied, and how it is to be prepared,  if it is to aid the patient, so the holy and spiritual man thinks like a herbalist, gathering from the Sacred Scriptures every mark and  letter, and discovering the power of it and its use, finding that there is nothing superfluous in what is written. Origen, Thirty Ninith Homily on Jeremiah 1 Rom 10.11