Sophia Scriptura

Exhortation to Martyrdom 24

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

Summary: The second brother was flayed and, refusing to eat idol sacrifices, told the tyrant that God would raise them to eternal life.

Greek text · Koetschau 1:21–22

Τοῦ πρώτου τοῦτον τὸν τρόπον δοκιμασθέντος, ὡς δοκιμάζεται χρυσὸς ἐν χωνευτηρίῳ, ὁ δεύτερος „ἐπὶ τὸν ἐμπαιγμὸν“ ἤγετο· οὗ τὸ „δέρμα σὺν ταῖς θριξὶ περισύραντες“ οἱ διάκονοι τῆς τυραννικῆς ὠμότητος ἐπὶ μετάνοιαν ἐκάλουν τὸν πεπονθότα ἐπερωτῶντες, εἰ φάγεται τῶν εἰδωλοθύτων „πρὶν τιμωρηθῆναι τὸ σῶμα κατὰ μέλος“ αὐτῷ. ὡς δʼ ἠρνήσατο τὴν μετάνοιαν, ἐπὶ „τὴν ἑξῆς“ ἤχθη „βάσανον“ τηρῶν τὴν ἔνστασιν μέχρι τῆς ἐσχάτης ἀναπνοῆς. μηδαμῶς γὰρ θραυσθεὶς μηδὲ ἐνδοὺς πρὸς τοὺς πόνους ταῦτα εἶπε πρὸς τὸν ἀσεβῆ· „σὺ μᾶλλον, ἀλάστορ, ἐκ τοῦ παρόντος ἡμᾶς ζῆν ἀπολύεις, ὁ δὲ τοῦ κόσμου βασιλεὺς ἀποθανόντας ἡμᾶς ὑπὲρ τῶν αὐτοῦ νόμων εἰς αἰώνιον ἀναβίωσιν ζωῆς ἀναστήσει.“

English · Claude translation

When the first had been tested in this way, as gold is tested in the furnace, the second was led “to the mockery”; and the servants of the tyrant's cruelty, having “torn off the skin with the hair,” called the sufferer to repentance, asking whether he would eat of the things sacrificed to idols “before his body was punished limb by limb.” But when he refused to repent, he was led to “the next torture,” keeping his firmness to his last breath. For in no way broken nor yielding to the pains, he said to the impious man: “You accursed wretch, you release us from this present life, but the King of the world will raise us up, who have died for his laws, to an eternal renewal of life.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 1:21–22 · 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
Extrabiblical texts
  • 2 Macc 7:7–9 (2 Maccabees) · quotation, high confidence
  • Wis 3:6 (Wisdom of Solomon) · echo, low confidence
Topics
Martyrdom, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The account follows 2 Macc 7:7–9; “as gold is tested in the furnace” echoes Wis 3:6 and Prov 17:3.

Cite this passage

Origen, Mart. 24 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/24/).

Plain text
Origen, Mart. 24 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/24/).

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