The Fount Of Knowledge

Ἀπεκρίθη Ἰησοῦς καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῇ: πᾶς ὁ πίνων ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος τούτου διψήσει πάλιν: ὃς δ' ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, οὐ μὴ διψήσει εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα, ἀλλὰ τὸ ὕδωρ ὃ δώσω αὐτῷ γενήσεται ἐν αὐτῷ πηγὴ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Πρῶτον ὡς ἐπὶ σωματικοῦ ἢ καὶ τάχα τὸ δηλούμενόν ἐστιν ὅτι κἂν πρὸς τὸ παρὸν κορεσθῇ, ἀλλ’ εὐθέως ὑποβιβασθέντος τοῦ ποτοῦ τὸ αὐτὸ πάθος πείσεται ὁ πιών, τουτέστι διψήσει πάλιν, εἰς ὅμοιον τῷ ἀρχῆθεν ἀποκαταστάς. ἐπιφέρει οὖν τὸ Ὃς δ’ ἂν πίῃ ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος οὗ ἐγὼ δώσω αὐτῷ, γενήσεται πηγὴ ἐν αὐτῷ ὕδατος ἁλλομένου εἰς ζωὴν αἰώνιον. Τίς δὲ ἐν ἑαυτῷ ἔχων πηγὴν διψῆσαι οἱός τε ἔσται; τὸ μέντοι γε προηγουμένως δηλούμενον τοιοῦτον ἂν εἴη· ὁ μεταλαμβάνων, φησί, βάθους λόγων, κἂν πρὸς ὀλίγον ἀναπαύσηται, παραδεξάμενος ὡς βαθύτατα τὰ ἀνιμώμενα καὶ εὑρίσκεσθαι δοκοῦντα νοήματα, ἀλλά γε πάλιν δεύτερον ἐπιστήσας ἐπαπορήσει περὶ τούτων, ὅσοις ἐπανεπαύσατο, τρανὴν καὶ ἔκτυπον περὶ τῶν ζητουμένων κατάληψιν οὐ δύναται τὸ νομιζόμενον ὑπ’ αὐτοῦ βάθος παρασχεῖν. διόπερ κἂν συναρπασθεὶς συγκαταθῆταί τις τῇ πιθανότητι τῶν λεγομένων, ἀλλά γε ὕστερον εὑρήσει τὴν αὐτὴν ἀπορίαν τυγχάουσαν έν αὐτῷ, ἥνπερ εἶχεν πρὶν τάδε τινὰ μαθεῖν· ἐγὼ δὲ τοιοῦτον ἔχω λόγον, ὥστε τὴν πηγὴν γενέσθαι τοῦ ζωτικοῦ πόματος ἐν τῷ παραδεξαμένῳ τὰ ὑπ’ ἐμοῦ ἀπαγγελλόμενα· καὶ ἐπὶ τοσοῦτόν γε ὁ λαβὼν τοῦ ἐμοῦ ὕδατος εὐεργετηθήσεται, ὥστε πηγὴν εὑρετικὴν πάντων τῶν ζητουμένων ἀναβλυστάνειν ἐν αὐτῷ ἄνω πηδώντων ὑδάτων, τῆς διανοίας ἁλλομένης καὶ τάχιστα διϊπταμένης ἀκολούθως τῷ εὐκινήτῳ τούτῳ ὕδατι, φέροντος αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἅλλεσθαι καὶ πηδᾶν ἐπὶ τὸ ἀνώτερον, ἐπὶ τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν. οἷον τὴν τοῦ ἁλλομένου, ὥς φησιν, εἶναι τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν· ὥσπερ δὴ περὶ τοῦ νυμφίου ἐν τῷ ᾄσματι τῶν ᾀσμάτων διαλεγόμενος Σολομῶν φησιν· Ἰδοὺ οὑτος ἥκει πηδῶν ἐπὶ τὰ ὄρη, διαλλόμενος ἐπὶ τοὺς βουνούς. ὡς γὰρ ἐκεῖ ὁ νυμφίος ἐπὶ τὰς μεγαλοφυεστέρας καὶ θειοτέρας πηδᾷ ψυχὰς ὄρη λεγομένας, ἐπὶ δὲ τὰς ὑποδεεστέρας διάλλεται βουνοὺς ὀνομαζομένας, οὕτως ἐνταῦθα ἡ γενομένη ἐν τῷ πιόντι ἐκ τοῦ ὕδατος, οὗ δίδωσιν ὁ Ἰησοῦς, πηγὴ ἅλλεται εἰς τὴν αἰώνιον ζωήν. τάχα δὲ καὶ πηδήσει μετὰ τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν εἰς τὸν ὑπὲρ τὴν αἰώνιον ζωὴν πατέρα· Χριστὸς γὰρ ἡ ζωή· ὁ δὲ μείζων τοῦ χριστοῦ, μείζων τῆς ζωῆς. Ὠριγένης, Των Εῑς Το Κατά Ιὠάννην Εὐαγγέλιον Εξηγητικόν, Τομός ΙΓ Source: Migne PG 14.401d-404c

Jesus answered her, 'Everyone who drinks from this water will thirst again, but he who drinks the water which I shall give him will not thirst ever again. The water which I shall give to him will be a fount of water within him, leaping up to eternal life.' 1 Firstly as this pertains to the low and corporeal sense, openly it declares that it may satisfy for the present the one who drinks, soon however, the drink passing away, he is struck by the same passion and again thirsts, with that same thirst that he had before being refreshed, as it says, 'He who drinks from the water which I shall give to him, shall have in him a fount of water welling up to eternal life.' Who can thirst having a fount in himself? Now this may be declared clearly by saying that he who partakes of the depth of reason, rests for a little while, receiving the things drawn from the depths of profound intellect in which he discovers great thoughts, but again second thoughts come to him concerning those things in which he had rest, and regarding those things which he looked into he becomes troubled and then by himself he is not able to grasp clearly and distinctly the depths. And even if someone corrects a verisimilitude of theirs which has been spoken, however soon he shall find that the same doubt returns, which he had even before he had begun to learn anything. But Christ says: I have the reason which is the fount of the living waters in which those who receive it will have the things promised by me and he will find in himself a gushing fount of waters, discoverer of all things. And perhaps there shall be an ascent by the effortless movement of this water, that in its gushing and pouring forth it bears a man into the heights, right up to eternal life. Similarly in the Song of Songs, concerning the Spouse, Solomon says, 'Behold, he comes leaping on the mountains, skipping over the hills' 2 for here the Spouse leaps on the more generous and more divine souls, which are named mountains, however the lower ones, named hills, he skips over, and so by the fount that is made in him who drinks from the water which Jesus gives, a man leaps to eternal life, and perhaps he shall leap beyond eternal life, even to the Father who is beyond eternal life. For Christ is the life, whence he who is greater than Christ is greater than life. 3 Origen, from the Commentary on The Gospel Of Saint John, Book 13 1 Jn 4. 13-14 2 Song 2.8 3 Jn 11.25, 14.6