apostolicfathers0201clem - Carmel Apologetics

THE CURETONIAN LETTERS. 289
The apology 'But I have not perceived or heard of any such thing in
you' (§ 11) resembles similar apologies in Ignatius {Magn. 11, Trail. 8).
Other coincidences also with .passages which are not contained in the
Curetonian letters will be found above, p. 136.
But this is not all. It is true that the two direct quotations from
Ignatius in Origen
are found in the Curetonian letters. But in one
there is a variation which, though slight, is far from unimportant.
Origen, quoting the opening of Ep/ies. 19, cites it koX tXadev k.t.X., as it
stands in the Middle Form. In the Curetonian letters the connecting
particle and ' is omitted. This is not a mere accident. In the
'
Middle Form (the Vossian letters) the passage stands in direct connexion
with the miraculous conception and birth of Christ (§ 18), and
accordingly the connecting particle is appropriate; but in the Curetonian
letters all this preceding passage is wanting, so that the words
quoted follow immediately after topics altogether irrelevant (§18 vfjuv
8e o-(or7pta koi ^wj; aiwi/ios).
Thus there is an abrupt transition in this
recension, and the connecting particle would be out of place. It must
therefore have been deliberately added in the Vossian letters, if these
are an expansion of the Curetonian, or deliberately omitted in the
Curetonian, if these are an abridgment of the Vossian. Hence its
presence in Origen's quotation is an indication of no light moment.
Moreover there is another very strong reason for supposing that
Origen
had the Vossian letters before him. The Vossian letters were
in the hands of Eusebius, who does not appear to have known any
others. But in all matters relating to the literature of the early Church
Eusebius made use, as naturally he would, of the valuable library
which Pamphilus, the admirer of Origen, had gathered together at
Ccesarea and left as an heir-loom to the Church there (ff. E. vi. 32).
This library contained the books which had belonged to Origen. When
therefore we find Origen and Eusebius within about half a century of
each other citing the same writer (though not very frequently cited
in the early centuries), this fact aflfords a strong presumption that they
quoted, if not from the same MS, at all events from mss closely allied
to each other and belonging to the same family. The presumption
is
certainly much stronger than any which can be advanced on the other
side.
But, if Origen be withdrawn, the soHtary quotation of Iren^us alone
remains. An induction from a single example
is no induction at all.
But even this testimony may be invalidated. The reader who compares
the references given above (p. 143) will form his own opinion of the
value of the coincidences with the Ignatian letters in the language of
IGN. I.
19