Exhortation to Martyrdom 1 · Sophia Scriptura

Greek text · Koetschau 1:4

„Οἱ ἀπογεγαλακτισμένοι ἀπὸ γάλακτος, οἱ ἀπεσπασμένοι ἀπὸ μαστοῦ, θλῖψιν ἐπὶ θλίψει προσδέχου, προσδέχου ἐλπίδα ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι, ἔτι μικρὸν ἔτι μικρὸν, διὰ φαυλισμὸν χειλέων, διὰ γλώσσης ἑτέρας.“ καὶ ὑμεῖς τοίνυν κατὰ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν ὡς οὐκέτι σάρκινοι οὐδὲ „ἐν Χριστῷ“ νήπιοι προκόψαντες „ἐν τῇ“ νοητῇ ὑμῶν „ἡλικίᾳ“, Ἀμβρόσιε θεοσεβέστατε καὶ Πρωτόκτητε εὐσεβέστατε, καὶ μηκέτι „χρείαν ἔχοντες γάλακτος“ ἀλλὰ „στερεᾶς τροφῆς“, ἀκούετε ὡς „ἀπογεγαλακτισμένοι ἀπὸ γάλακτος“ καὶ „ἀπεσπασμένοι ἀπὸ μαστοῦ“, τίνα τρόπον ὡς ἀθληταῖς τοῖς ἀπογεγαλακτισμένοις οὐχ ἁπλῆ θλῖψις ἀλλά τις „θλῖψις ἐπὶ θλίψει“ προφητεύεται. ὁ δὲ μὴ ἀπωθούμενος τὴν „ἐπὶ θλίψει“ θλῖψιν, ἀλλʼ ὡς γενναῖος ἀθλητὴς αὐτὴν προσδεχόμενος εὐθέως προσδέχεται καὶ „ἐλπίδα ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι“, ἧς μετʼ οὐ πολὺ τῆς „ἐπὶ θλίψει“ θλίψεως ἀπολαύσει· τοιοῦτο γάρ ἐστι τὸ „ἔτι μικρὸν ἔτι μικρόν.“

English · Claude translation

“You who are weaned from milk, you who are drawn from the breast, expect affliction upon affliction, expect hope upon hope, yet a little, yet a little, through contempt of lips, through another tongue.” You too, then, according to Isaiah, since you are no longer fleshly nor infants “in Christ,” but have advanced “in” your spiritual “stature,” most God-fearing Ambrose and most pious Protoctetus, and no longer “have need of milk” but “of solid food,” hear, as those “weaned from milk” and “drawn from the breast,” how it is prophesied that for athletes who have been weaned there comes not simple affliction but “affliction upon affliction.” But the one who does not thrust away the affliction “upon affliction,” but like a noble athlete accepts it, at once accepts also “hope upon hope,” which he will enjoy not long after the affliction “upon affliction”; for such is the meaning of “yet a little, yet a little.”

About this passage

Source

Koetschau 1:4 · Paul Koetschau, ed., Origenes Werke 1: Die Schrift vom Martyrium, Buch I–IV gegen Celsus, GCS 2 (Leipzig: Hinrichs, 1899), 1–47 · Greek text: P. Koetschau, Origenes Werke 1 (GCS 2, 1899), digitized by the Perseus Digital Library and published by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0

Text

As printed in Koetschau, GCS 2. Manuscript variants and the editor's apparatus are not reproduced; no textual problem is noted in this passage.

Translation

Claude translation (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 · Translated by Claude from the Greek text of Koetschau, GCS 2; made independently of existing English translations. No public-domain English translation exists; reviewed against the Greek.

Scripture

Isa 28:9 · quotation, high confidence
Isa 28:10 · quotation, high confidence
Isa 28:11 · quotation, high confidence
1 Cor 3:1 · allusion, high confidence
Heb 5:12 · allusion, high confidence
Eph 4:13 · allusion, medium confidence

Topics

Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

The opening quotation is Isa 28:9–11 (LXX), which Origen goes on to interpret phrase by phrase; the phrases on infants, milk, and solid food echo 1 Cor 3:1–2, Heb 5:12, and Eph 4:13. Ambrose was Origen's patron; Protoctetus was a presbyter of Caesarea; both were in danger in the persecution under Maximinus Thrax (235).

Cite this passage

Origen, Mart. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/1/).

Plain text

Origen, Mart. 1 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/1/).