Origen, De Engastrimytho (Homilia In I Reg. [I Sam.] 28.3-25)

Καὶ μὴν γοῦν ἴσμεν τινὰς τῶν ἡμετέρων ἀδελφῶν ἀντιβλέψαντας τῇ γραφῇ καὶ λέγοντας· οὐ πιστεύω τῇ ἐγγαστριμύθῳ.

Indeed, we know that some of our brothers have set themselves against the scripture and say: 'I do not believe the ventriloquist.'

λέγει ἡ ἐγγαστρίμυθος ἑωρακέναι τὸν Σαμουήλ, ψεύδεται. Σαμουὴλ οὐχ ἀνήχθη, Σαμουὴλ οὐ λαλεῖ. ἀλλ’ ὥσπερ εἰσί τινες ψευδοπροφῆται λέγοντες· »τάδε λέγει κύριος« καὶ »κύριος οὐκ ἐλάλησεν«, οὕτως καὶ τὸ δαιμόνιον τοῦτο ψεύδεται, ἐπαγγελλόμενον ἀνάγειν τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ Σαοὺλ προστασσόμενον. »τίνα γὰρ ἀναγάγω;« φησίν· »Σαμουὴλ ἀνάγαγέ μοι«. καὶ ταῦτα λέγεται ὑπὸ τῶν φασκόντων τὴν ταύτην μὴ εἶναι ἀληθῆ· Σαμουὴλ ἐν ᾅδου; Σαμουὴλ ὑπὸ ἐγγαστριμύθου ἀνάγεται ὁ ἐξαίρετος τῶν προφητῶν, ὁ ἀπὸ τῆς γενέσεως ἀναδείμενος τῷ θεῷ, ὁ πρὸ γενέσεως ἐν τῷ ἱερῷ λεγόμενος ἔσεσθαι, ὁ ἅμα τῷ ἀπογαλακτισθῆναι ἐνδυσάμενος ἐφοὺδ καὶ διπλοΐδα καὶ ἱερεὺς γενόμενος τοῦ κυρίου, ᾡ παιδίῳ ἔτι ὄντι ἔχρημάτισεν ὁ κύριος λαλῶν; Σαμουὴλ ἐν ᾅδου; Σαμουὴλ ἐν τοῖς καταχθονίοις ὁ διαδεξάμενος Ἡλὶ διὰ τὰ τῶν τέκνων ἁμαρτήματα καὶ παρανομήματα καταδικασθέντα ὑπὸ τῆς προνοίας; Σαμουὴλ ἐν ᾅδου, οὗ ὁ θεὸς ἐπήκουσεν ἐν καιρῷ θερισμοῦ πυρῶν, καὶ ὑετὸν ἔδωκεν ἐλθεῖν ἀπ’ οὐρανοῦ; Σαμουὴλ ἐν ᾅδου ὁ τοιαῦτα παρρησιασάμενος, εἰ ἐπιθύμημά | | τινος ἔλαβεν; οὐκ ἔλαβεν τὸν μόσχον, οὐκ ἔλαβεν τὸν βοῦν, ἔκρινεν καὶ κατεδίκασεν τὸν λαὸν μένων πένης· οὐδέποτε ἐπεθύμησεν λαβεῖν τι ἀπὸ τηλικούτου λαοῦ καὶ τοσούτου. Σαμουὴλ ἴνα τί ἐν ᾅδου; ὁρᾶτε τί ἀκολουθεῖ τῷ Σαμουὴλ ἐν ᾅδου; Σαμουὴλ ἐν ᾅδου; διὰ τί οὐχὶ καὶ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ Ἰσαὰκ καὶ Ἰακὼβ ἐν ᾅδου; Σαμουὴλ ἐν ᾅδου; διὰ τί οὐχὶ καὶ Μωσῆς ὁ συνεζευγμένος τῷ Σαμουὴλ κατὰ τὸ εἰρημένον· οὐδὲ ἐὰν στῇ Μωσῆς καὶ Σαμουήλ, οὐδὲ ἐκείνων ; Σαμουὴλ ἐν ᾅδου; ἵνα τί μὴ καὶ Ἱερεμίας έν ᾅδου, πρὸς ὃν εἰρηται· »πρὸ τοῦ με πλάσαι σε ἐν κοιλίᾳ ἐπίσταμαί σε, καὶ πρὸ τοῦ σε ἐξελθεῖν ἐκ μήτρας ἡγίακά σε«; ἐν ᾅδου καὶ Ἡσαΐας, ἐν ᾅδου καὶ Ἱερεμίας, ἐν ᾅδου πάντες οἱ προφῆται, ἐν ᾅδου.

The ventriloquist says she has seen Samuel; she lies. Samuel was not brought up; Samuel does not speak. But just as there are some false prophets who say 'Thus says the Lord', when the Lord has not spoken, so this demon too lies, promising to bring up the one whom Saul orders. 'For whom shall I bring up?' she says. 'Bring up Samuel for me.' And these things are said by those who maintain that this [story] is not true: Samuel in Hades? Samuel brought up by a ventriloquist, the chosen one among the prophets, the one dedicated to God from his birth, the one of whom it was said in the temple before his birth that he would come to be, the one who as soon as he was weaned put on the ephod and the double cloak and became a priest of the Lord, to whom, while he was still a child, the Lord gave answer by speaking? Samuel in Hades? Samuel in the regions under the earth, he who succeeded Eli, who was condemned by providence for the sins and transgressions of his sons? Samuel in Hades, whom God heard at the time of the wheat harvest, and granted rain to come from heaven? Samuel in Hades, he who spoke out so boldly [to ask] whether he had taken anything that anyone prized? He did not take the calf, he did not take the ox; he judged the people and gave judgment on them while remaining poor; never did he desire to take anything from a people so great and so numerous. Samuel: why in Hades? Do you see what follows from 'Samuel in Hades'? Samuel in Hades? Why not Abraham too, and Isaac and Jacob, in Hades? Samuel in Hades? Why not Moses too, who is yoked together with Samuel according to the saying: 'Not even if Moses and Samuel should stand, not even them'? Samuel in Hades? Why not Jeremiah too in Hades, to whom it was said: 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I sanctified you'? In Hades Isaiah too, in Hades Jeremiah too, in Hades all the prophets, in Hades.