Sophia Scriptura

Exhortation to Martyrdom 31

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

Summary: The martyrs' blessedness begins with a wintry trial; only those who endure it will hear the words of the Song of Songs, “the winter is past.”

Greek text · Koetschau 1:27–28

Μὴ θαυμάζωμεν δὲ εἰ τὴν τηλικαύτην τῶν μαρτύρων μακαριότητα, ἐσομένην ἐν βαθείᾳ εἰρήνῃ καὶ γαλήνῃ καὶ εὐδίᾳ, δεῖ ἄρξασθαι ἀπό τινος νομιζομένου σκυθρωποτέρου καὶ, ἵνʼ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, χειμερινοῦ καταστήματος. πρότερον γὰρ τὴν στενὴν καὶ τεθλιμμένην ὁδεύοντα ἐν χειμῶνι δεήσει ἐπιδείξασθαι ἣν ἐκτήσατο ἕκαστος τῶν μακαρίων κυβέρνησιν, ἵνα μετὰ ταῦτα γένηται τὸ ἐν τῷ Ἄισματι τῶν ᾀσμάτων πρὸς τὴν τὸν χειμῶνα διανηξαμένην νύμφην λεγόμενον· „ἀποκρίνεται“ γάρ φησιν „ἀδελφιδός μου καὶ λέγει μοι· ἀνάστα, ἐλθὲ ἡ πλησίον μου, καλή μου, περιστερά μου. ὅτι ἰδοὺ ὁ χειμὼν παρῆλθεν, ὁ ὑετὸς ἀπῆλθεν, ἐπορεύθη ἑαυτῷ“. καὶ ὑμεῖς ἔτι μέμνησθε ὅτι οὐκ ἄλλως ἔστιν ἀκοῦσαι τό· „ὁ χειμὼν παρῆλθεν“, ἐὰν μὴ τὸν παρόντα χειμῶνα ἐῤῥωμένως καὶ εὐτόνως ἀγωνίσησθε. μετὰ δὲ τὸ παρελθεῖν τὸν χειμῶνα καὶ τὸν ὑετὸν ἀπελθεῖν καὶ πορευθῆναι ἑαυτῷ τὰ ἄνθη ὀφθήσεται· „πεφυτευμένοι γὰρ ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ τοῦ κυρίου ἐν ταῖς αὐλαῖς τοῦ θεοῦ ἡμῶν ἐξανθήσουσι.“

English · Claude translation

Let us not be surprised if the great blessedness of the martyrs, which will be in deep peace and calm and fair weather, must begin from what is thought a gloomier and, so to speak, wintry condition. For each of the blessed, traveling first the narrow and hard way in winter, will have to show what skill in steering he has acquired, so that afterwards may come what is said in the Song of Songs to the bride who has swum through the winter: “My beloved answers,” it says, “and says to me: Arise, come, my neighbor, my fair one, my dove. For behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone.” And you too remember that it is not possible to hear “the winter is past” otherwise than by contending strongly and vigorously in the present winter. And after the winter is past and the rain is over and gone, the flowers will appear; “for those planted in the house of the Lord will blossom in the courts of our God.”

About this passage

Source
Koetschau 1:27–28 · 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, Eschatology

Notes

Translation notes

  • The quotations and allusions are Matt 7:14, Song 2:10–12, and Ps 92:13 (91:14 LXX).

Cite this passage

Origen, Mart. 31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/31/).

Plain text
Origen, Mart. 31 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/31/).

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