Sophia Scriptura

Exhortation to Martyrdom 19

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

Summary: When neighbors mock us, we can pray the words of Psalm 44 and say that we have not forgotten God or turned back.

Greek text · Koetschau 1:18

Εἰκὸς δὲ ἡμᾶς καὶ ὀνειδισθήσεσθαι ὑπὸ γειτόνων καὶ μυκτηρισθήσεσθαι ὑπό τινων κυκλούντων ἡμᾶς καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ὡς ἐπὶ ἀνοήτοις κινούντων ἡμῖν. ἀλλὰ τούτων συμβαινόντων ἡμεῖς λέγωμεν πρὸς θεόν· „ἔθου ἡμᾶς ὄνειδος τοῖς γείτοσιν ἡμῶν, μυκτηρισμὸν καὶ γέλωτα τοῖς κύκλῳ ἡμῶν. ἔθου ἡμᾶς εἰς παραβολὴν ἐν τοῖς ἔθνεσι, κίνησιν κεφαλῆς ἐν τοῖς λαοῖς. ὅλην τὴν ἡμέραν ἡ ἐντροπή μου κατʼ ἐναντίον μου ἐστὶ, καὶ ἡ αἰσχύνη τοῦ προσώπου μου ἐκάλυψέ με, ἀπὸ φωνῆς ὀνειδίζοντος καὶ καταλαλοῦντος, ἀπὸ προσώπου ἐχθροῦ καὶ ἐκδιώκοντος.“ μακάριον δὲ καὶ ἐπὶ τούτοις πᾶσι συμβαίνουσι τὴν ἀπὸ παῤῥησίας τοῦ προφήτου ἐπιφερομένην αὐτοῖς φωνὴν εἰπεῖν τῷ θεῷ τήν· „ταῦτα πάντα ἦλθεν ἐφʼ ἡμᾶς. καὶ οὐκ ἐπελαθόμεθά σου, καὶ οὐκ ἠδικήσαμεν ἐν τῇ διαθήκῃ σου. καὶ οὐκ ἀπέστη εἰς τὰ ὀπίσω ἡ καρδία ἡμῶν.“

English · Claude translation

It is likely too that we shall be reproached by neighbors and sneered at by some who surround us and shake their heads at us as at fools. But when these things happen, let us say to God: “You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a sneering and a laughingstock to those around us. You have made us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. All day long my disgrace is before me, and the shame of my face has covered me, at the voice of the one who reproaches and slanders, before the face of the enemy and persecutor.” And blessed it is, when all these things happen, to say to God the words that the prophet boldly adds to them: “All these things have come upon us. And we have not forgotten you, and we have not dealt falsely with your covenant. And our heart has not turned back.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 1:18 · 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
  • Ps 44:13 (43:14 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 44:14 (43:15 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 44:15 (43:16 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 44:16 (43:17 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 44:17 (43:18 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
  • Ps 44:18 (43:19 LXX) · quotation, high confidence
Topics
Martyrdom, Persecution

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations are Ps 44:13–18 (43:14–19 LXX).

Cite this passage

Origen, Mart. 19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/19/).

Plain text
Origen, Mart. 19 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/19/).

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