Exhortation to Martyrdom 2
Summary: The sufferings of the present are light compared with the eternal glory God generously gives those who compete lawfully and love him with their whole soul.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:4
Ἀλλὰ καὶ εἰ φαυλίζοιεν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἐξευτελίζοιεν ἤτοι ἀσεβεῖς ἢ μωροὺς ἀποκαλοῦντες οἱ ἀλλότριοι τῆς κατὰ τὰς ἁγίας γραφὰς διαλέκτου, ὑπομιμνησκώμεθα ὅτι ἡ „ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι“ ἐλπὶς, ἡ „ἔτι μικρὸν“ ἀποδοθησομένη ἡμῖν, ἀποδοθήσεται „διὰ φαυλισμὸν χειλέων, διὰ γλώσσης ἑτέρας“. καὶ τίς οὐκ ἂν προσδέχοιτο „θλῖψιν ἐπὶ θλίψει“, ἵνα εὐθέως προσδέξηται καὶ „ἐλπίδα ἐπʼ ἐλπίδι“, λογισάμενος μετὰ Παύλου „ὅτι οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ“, ὧν ὡσπερεὶ ὠνούμεθα τὴν μακαριότητα, „πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλύπτεσθαι εἰς ἡμᾶς“ ἀπὸ τοῦ θεοῦ· καὶ μάλιστα ἐπεὶ „τὸ παραυτίκα ἐλαφρὸν τῆς θλίψεως ἡμῶν“, „ἐλαφρὸν“ τοῖς μὴ βαρουμένοις ὑπὸ τῶν περιεστηκότων καὶ τυγχάνον καὶ λεγόμενον, ὅσῳ πλεῖον ὑπερβάλλον γίνεται, τοσούτῳ μεῖζον καὶ πλεῖον „βάρος αἰωνίου δόξης κατεργάζεται ἡμῖν“, εἰ παρὰ τὸν καιρὸν τῶν θλιβόντων καὶ ὡσπερεὶ πιέζειν τὰς ψυχὰς ἡμῶν ἐθελόντων ἀποστρέψαντες τὸ ἡγεμονικὸν ἡμῶν ἀπὸ τῶν ἐπιπόνων σκοποῖμεν οὐ τὰ ἐνεστηκότα ἐπίπονα ἀλλὰ τὰ διὰ τὴν ἐν τούτοις ὑπομονὴν τοῖς „νομίμως“ ἐν Χριστῷ ἀθλήσασι χάριτι θεοῦ ἀποκείμενα, πολλαπλασιάζοντος τὰς εὐεργεσίας καὶ ὑπὲρ τὴν ἀξίαν τῶν τοῦ ἀγωνισαμένου καμάτων τοσαῦτα δωρουμένου, ὅσα ἂν πρέπῃ μὴ γλισχρολογουμένῳ διδόναι τῷ μεγαλοδώρῳ καὶ ἐπιστημόνως τὰς ἑαυτοῦ χάριτας μεγεθύνοντι θεῷ ἐπὶ τοὺς ὅση δύναμις διὰ τοῦ καταπεφρονηκέναι τοῦ ὀστρακίνου σκεύους ἐπιδειξαμένους τὴν ὅλῃ ψυχῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπην.
English · Claude translation
But even if those who are strangers to the language of the holy Scriptures should despise and belittle us, calling us either impious or foolish, let us remember that the hope “upon hope,” which will be given back to us “yet a little” while, will be given back “through contempt of lips, through another tongue.” And who would not accept “affliction upon affliction,” in order at once to accept also “hope upon hope,” reckoning with Paul “that the sufferings of the present time,” by which we as it were purchase blessedness, “are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” from God? And especially since “the momentary lightness of our affliction” (“light” both being and being called so for those who are not weighed down by their circumstances), the more it abounds, the greater and more abundant “weight of eternal glory it works for us,” if, in the time of those who afflict us and wish, as it were, to crush our souls, we turn our ruling faculty away from our toils and look, not at the toils that are present, but at what is laid up by the grace of God, because of endurance in them, for those who have competed “lawfully” in Christ. For he multiplies his benefits, and beyond the worth of the contestant's labors grants as much as it befits God to give, who does not reckon stingily, who gives great gifts and who knowingly magnifies his graces toward those who, as far as they could, by despising the earthen vessel have shown their love for him with the whole soul.
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rom 8:18 and 2 Cor 4:17; “lawfully” is from 2 Tim 2:5, and “the earthen vessel” alludes to 2 Cor 4:7. “Ruling faculty” (ἡγεμονικόν) is the Stoic term for the governing part of the soul.
Cite this passage
Origen, Mart. 2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/2/).
Plain text
Origen, Mart. 2 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/2/).
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