Sophia Scriptura

Exhortation to Martyrdom 41

Origen · Exhortation to Martyrdom · 235 · Caesarea · Read in context

Summary: Those who have passed from death to life should expect the world's hatred, lay down their lives as Jesus did, and boast in their afflictions.

Greek text · Koetschau 1:38–39

Εἰ μεταβεβήκαμεν „ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τὴν ζωὴν“ διὰ τοῦ μεταβεβηκέναι ἀπὸ ἀπιστίας εἰς πίστιν, μὴ θαυμάζωμεν, εἰ μισεῖ ἡμᾶς ὁ κόσμος. οὐδεὶς γὰρ μὴ μεταβὰς „ἐκ τοῦ θανάτου εἰς τὴν ζωὴν“ ἀλλὰ μένων ἐν τῷ θανάτῳ δύναται ἀγαπᾶν τοὺς μεταβεβηκότας ἀπὸ σκοτεινῆς τῆς τοῦ θανάτου, ἵνʼ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, οἰκίας ἐπὶ τὰ πεπληρωμένα οἰκοδομήματα ἐκ λίθων ζώντων φωτὸς ζωῆς. „ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν ἔθηκεν“ Ἰησοῦς „τὴν ψυχὴν“, καὶ ἡμεῖς οὖν θῶμεν αὐτὴν, οὐκ ἐρῶ ὑπὲρ αὐτοῦ ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ ἑαυτῶν, οἶμαι δʼ ὅτι κἂν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν τῷ μαρτυρίῳ ἡμῶν οἰκοδομηθησομένων. ἐνέστη ἡμῖν καιρὸς Χριστιανοῖς καυχήσεων· „οὐ μόνον“, γάρ φησιν, „ἀλλὰ καὶ καυχώμενοι ἐν ταῖς θλίψεσιν, εἰδότες ὅτι ἡ θλῖψις ὑπομονὴν κατεργάζεται, ἡ δὲ ὑπομονὴ δοκιμὴν, ἡ δὲ δοκιμὴ ἐλπίδα· ἡ δὲ ἐλπὶς οὐ καταισχύνει“, μόνον „ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ“ ἐκκεχύσθω „ἐν ταῖς καρδίαις ἡμῶν διὰ πνεύματος ἁγίου“. Παῦλος μὲν λεγέτω· „εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον ἐθηριομάχησα ἐν Ἐφέσῳ“, ἡμεῖς δέ· „εἰ κατὰ ἄνθρωπον“ ἀνῃρέθην ἐν Γερμανίᾳ.

English · Claude translation

If we have passed “from death to life” by having passed from unbelief to faith, let us not be surprised if the world hates us. For no one who has not passed “from death to life,” but remains in death, can love those who have passed from the dark house, so to speak, of death to the buildings of living stones, filled with the light of life. Jesus “laid down his life for us”; let us then lay down ours too—I will not say for him, but for ourselves, and, I think, also for those who will be built up by our martyrdom. The time has come for us Christians to boast; “not only so,” it says, “but we also boast in afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, and endurance character, and character hope; and hope does not put to shame”—only let “the love of God” be poured out “in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Let Paul say, “If, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus”; but let us say, “If, humanly speaking, I was put to death in Germany.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 1:38–39 · 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
Topics
Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations and allusions are 1 John 3:14 (John 5:24), 1 Pet 2:5, 1 John 3:16, Rom 5:3–5, and 1 Cor 15:32. The mention of Germany probably refers to the emperor Maximinus Thrax, who was campaigning on the Rhine and Danube in 235–236, where Ambrose and Protoctetus may have expected to be tried; this is an inference, not stated in the text.

Cite this passage

Origen, Mart. 41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/41/).

Plain text
Origen, Mart. 41 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/41/).

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