Exhortation to Martyrdom 50
Summary: Martyrs' blood cries out to God like Abel's, may even ransom others, and exalts the martyr, who glorifies God by his death as Peter did.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:46–47
Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ γινώσκωμεν, ὅτι τὸ εἰρημένον περὶ τοῦ Ἄβελ ἀναιρεθέντος ὑπὸ τοῦ ἀνθρωποκτόνου καὶ ἀδίκου Κάϊν ἐφαρμόζει πᾶσιν, ὧν ἀδίκως ἐξεχύθη τὸ αἷμα. τὸ γάρ· „φωνὴ αἵματος τοῦ ἀδελφοῦ σου βοᾷ πρός με ἐκ τῆς γῆς“ νομίσωμεν λέγεσθαι καὶ περὶ ἑκάστου τῶν μαρτύρων, ὧν ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ αἵματος βοᾷ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπὸ τῆς γῆς. τάχα δὲ καὶ ὥσπερ „τιμίῳ αἵματι“ τῷ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἠγοράσθημεν, Ἰησοῦ λαβόντος „τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ὑπὲρ πᾶν ὄνομα, “ οὕτως τῷ „τιμίῳ αἵματι“ τῶν μαρτύρων ἀγορασθήσονταί τινες, καὶ αὐτῶν πλέον ὑψουμένων παρʼ ὃ ὑψώθησαν ἂν δίκαιοι μὲν γενόμενοι μὴ μαρτυρήσαντες δέ· λόγον γὰρ ἔχει τὸ ἰδίως τὸν ἐν μαρτυρίῳ θάνατον ὕψωσιν καλεῖσθαι, ὡς δῆλον ἐκ τοῦ· „ἐὰν ὑψωθῶ ἐκ τῆς γῆς, πάντας ἑλκύσω πρὸς ἐμαυτόν.“ δοξάσωμεν οὖν καὶ ἡμεῖς ὑψώσαντες τῷ ἑαυτῶν θανάτῳ τὸν θεὸν, ἐπείπερ ὁ μαρτυρῶν τῷ ἑαυτοῦ „θανάτῳ δοξάσει τὸν θεόν·“ ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸ ἀπὸ Ἰωάννου μεμαθήκαμεν εἰπόντος· „ταῦτα δὲ εἶπε σημαίνων ποίῳ θανάτῳ δοξάσει τὸν θεόν.“
English · Claude translation
And let us know this also: that what was said about Abel, killed by the murderous and unjust Cain, applies to all whose blood has been unjustly shed. For let us consider that the words, “The voice of your brother's blood cries out to me from the earth,” are spoken also about each of the martyrs, the voice of whose blood cries out to God from the earth. And perhaps, just as we were bought with the “precious blood” of Jesus, when Jesus received “the name that is above every name,” so some will be bought with the “precious blood” of the martyrs, and they themselves will be exalted more than they would have been exalted had they been righteous but not martyred. For there is reason in calling death in martyrdom by the special name of “exaltation,” as is clear from the words, “If I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all people to myself.” Let us too, then, glorify God, having exalted him by our own death, since the martyr “will glorify God” by his own “death”; as we have learned also from John, who said, “He said this signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Gen 4:10, 1 Pet 1:19 (1 Cor 6:20), Phil 2:9, John 12:32, and John 21:19. That some are “bought” by the blood of the martyrs is Origen's own tentative suggestion (“perhaps”). “Lifted up” and “exalted” render the same verb, ὑψόω.
Notes on the original text
- Digital text corrected (a word split by a stray space in the digital text): σημαί νων → σημαίνων.
Cite this passage
Origen, Mart. 50 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/50/).
Plain text
Origen, Mart. 50 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/50/).
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