# Letter to Africanus - Author: [Origen](https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/authors/origen/) - Latin title: *Epistula ad Africanum* - Date: ca. 240–245 (approximate) - Source: J.-P. Migne, ed., Patrologiae cursus completus, series Graeca, vol. 11 (Paris: Garnier, 1857), cols. 48–85 (Greek text; Migne's Latin version and notes not reproduced) (Greek text: Migne, Patrologia Graeca 11, digitized by the First Thousand Years of Greek project (Open Greek and Latin), CC BY-SA 4.0) - Translation: Claude, from the original text, unless a passage says otherwise; each passage below gives the translator - Editions and translations: Nicholas de Lange, Origène: Lettre à Africanus sur l'histoire de Suzanne, in SC 302 (Paris: Cerf, 1983) - Work page: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/ - Passages: 18 ## Letter to Africanus 1 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-1 - Source: PG 11:48–49 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen opens his reply to Julius Africanus about the story of Susanna, apologizing for its brevity. ### Greek text Ὠριγένης Ἀφρικανῷ ἀγαπητῷ ἀδελφῷ ἐν Θεῷ Πατρὶ διὰ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ τοῦ ἁγίου παιδὸς αὐτοῦ εὖ πράττειν. Ἡ μὲν σὴ ἐπιστολὴ, διʼ ἧς ἐμάνθανον ἐνέφηνας περὶ τῆς ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ φερομένης ἐν ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις Σωσάννης, βραχεῖα μέν τις εἶναι δοκεῖ· ἐν ὀλίγοις δὲ πολλὰ προβλήματα ἕχουσα, ὧν ἕκαστον ἐδεῖτο οὐ τῆς τυχούσης ἐξεργασίας, ἀλλὰ τοσαύτης, ὥστε ὑπερβαίνειν τὸν ἐπιστολικὸν χαρακτῆρα, καὶ συγγράμματος ἔχειν περιγραφήν. Ἐγὼ δὲ τὸ ἐμαυτοῦ τῆς διανοίας μέτριον, ὅση δύναμις, κατανοῶν, ἵνα μὴ ἀναισθητοίην ἐμαυτοῦ, θεωρῶ, ὅτι ἀπολείπομαι τῆς ἀπαιτουμένης ἀκριβείας εἰς τὴν ἀντιγραφὴν τῆς ἐπιστολῆς σου· ὡς καὶ οὐδʼ ὀλίγαι τῆς ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ διατριβῆς ἡμέραι μοι διήρκουν πρὸς τὸ κὰν κατὰ τὴν παροῦσαν λέξιν περὶ ὧν ἐξήτησας καὶ ἁπῄτησάς με, ἐπιστεῖλαί σοι. Διόπερ συγγνώμην ἀπονέμων τῇ τε μετριότητί μου καὶ τῇ ἀπὸ τοῦ καιροῦ στενοχωρίᾳ, ἕντυχε τῇ ἐπιστολῇ μετὰ πάσης εὐνοίας, συνεισφέρων εἴ τι ὑφʼ ἡμῶν παραλέλειπται. ### English translation (Claude) Origen to Africanus, a beloved brother in God the Father, through Jesus Christ his holy Servant: greetings. Your letter, from which I learned what you think about Susanna, which is read in the churches as part of Daniel, seems a short one; but in few words it holds many problems, each of which needed no ordinary working out but so much that it would go beyond the character of a letter and take on the compass of a treatise. As for me, when I consider, as far as I can, the modest measure of my own understanding, so as not to be blind to myself, I see that I fall short of the precision required to answer your letter, all the more since not even a few days of my stay in Nicomedia were enough for me to write to you, even in the present style, about what you inquired into and asked of me. Therefore, making allowance for my modest ability and for the shortness of the time, read the letter with all goodwill, supplying anything I have left out. ### Scripture references - Acts 4:27: echo, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus (Susanna): allusion, high confidence - Julius Africanus (Julius Africanus (fragments)): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Servant” renders παῖς (Acts 4:27, 30), which can also mean “child”. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 1 (PG 11:48–49; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-1). ## Letter to Africanus 2 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-2 - Source: PG 11:49–52 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen points out that the Greek Daniel contains much not in the Hebrew, including Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, and the hymn of the three young men. ### Greek text Καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἕφασκες, ὅτι ἡνίκα διελεγόμην τῷ ἑταίρῳ ἡμῶν Βάσσῳ, καὶ συνεχρώμην τῇ τοῦ Δανιὴλ νεωτέρου προφητεύσαντος περὶ τῶν κατὰ τὴν Σωσάνναν Γραφῇ, τοῦτο πεποίηκα, ὡς λανθάνοντός με τοῦ μέρους τοῦ βιβλίου κεκιβδηλευμένου ὅντος. Καὶ ἕλεγες τὴν περικοπὴν ταύτην ἐπαινεῖν μέν πως ὥς τι χαρίεν· ἔφασκες δὲ ψέγειν ὡς οὖσαν σύγγραμμα νεωτερικὸν καὶ πεπλασμένον· καὶ ὅτι, ὡς οὐδὲ Φιλιστίων ὁ μῖμος, ἐχρήσατο ἀναπλάσας τὸ συγγραμμάτιον τῇ τῶν ὀνομάτων γειτνιάσει, πρίνου πρὸς πρίσιν, καὶ σχίνου πρὸς σχίσιν· Ἅπερ κατὰ μὲν τὴν Ἐλλήνων φωνὴντοιαῦτα εἶναι δοκεῖ, κατὰ δὲ τὴν Ἑβραίων οὐδαμῶς. Ἴσθι τοίνυν πρὸς ταῦτα, τί χρὴ ἡμᾶς πράττειν οὐ περὶ τῶν κατὰ Σωσάνναν μόνον, ἐν μὲν τῷ καθʼ Ἕλληνας Ἑλληνικῷ φερομένων ἐν πάσῃ Ἐκκλησίᾳ Χριστοῦ, παρὰ δὲ Ἑβραίοις μὴ κειμένων· οὐδὲ περὶ τῶν, ὡς ἔφασκες, ἄλλων δύο περικοπῶν τῶν ἐπὶ τέλει τοῦ βιβλίου περί τε τῶν κατὰ τὸν Βὴλ, καὶ τὸν δράκοντα ἀναγεγραμμένων, οὐδʼ αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ τῶν Ἑβραίων γεγραμμένων· ἀλλὰ καὶ περὶ ἄλλων μυρίων, ἃ κατὰ τὴν μετριότητα ἡμῶν τοῖς Ἑβραῖκοῖς συγκρίναντες ἀντιγράφοις τὰ ἡμέτερα. πολλαχοῦ εὕρομεν. Ἐν μὲν γὰρ αὐτῷ τῷ Δανιὴλ περὶ τῆς καμίνου τῆς καιομένης, τὸ « πεπεδημένοι » εὕρομεν· ἐν δὲ τοῖς ἡμετέροις ἀντιγράφοις περισσεύοντα παρὰ τὰ ἐν τοῖς Ἑβραϊκοῖς ἕπη οὐκ ὀλίγα, ὥν ἀρχὴ κατὰ μέν τινα τῶν φερομένων ἐν ταῖς ἐκκλησίαις ἦν οὕτως· « Προσηύξαντο Ἀνανίας, καὶ Ἀζαρίας, καὶ Μισαὴλ, καὶ ὕμνησαν τὸν Κύριον· » ἕως τοῦ « Εὐλογεῖτε πάντες οἱ σεβόμενοι Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν τῶν θεῶν. Ὑμνεῖτε καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθε, ὅτι εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τὸ ἕλεος αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα τῶν αἰώνων. Καὶ ἐγένετο ἐν τῷ ἀκοῦσαι τὸν βασιλέα ὑμνούντων αὐτῶν, καὶ ἐθεώρει αὐτοὺς ζῶντας. » Κατὰ δὲ ἕτερα· « Καὶ περιεπάτουν ἐν μέσῳ τῆς φλογὸς ὑμνοῦντες τὸν Θεὸν, καὶ εὐλογοῦντες τὸν Κύριον· » ἕως τοῦ· « Εὐλογεῖτε πάντες οἱ σεβόμενοι τὸν Κύριον τὸν Θεὸν τῶν θεῶν. Ὑμνεῖτε καὶ ἐξομολογεῖσθε, ὅτι εἰς πάντας τοὺς αἰῶνας τὸ ελεος αὐτοῦ.» Συνῆπτο δὲ ἐν τοῖς Ἑβραῖκοῖς τό· « Καὶ οἱ ἄνδρες ἐκεῖνοι οἱ τρεῖς Σεδρὰχ, Μισὰχ, Ἀβδενεγὼ, ἔπεσον εἰς μέσον τοῦ πυρὸς πεπεδημένοι· » τό τε « Ὁ βασιλεὺς ὁ Nαβουχοδονόσορ ἐθαύμασε, καὶ ἀνέστη ἐν σπουδῇ, καὶ ἀπεκρίθη, καὶ εἶπε τοῖς μεγιστᾶσιν αὐτοῦ.» Οὕτω γὰρ Ἀκύλας δουλεύων τῇ Ἑβραῖκῇ λέξει ἐκδέδωκεν εἰπών· φιλοτιμότερον πεπιστευμένος παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις ἡρμηνευκέναι τὴν Γραφήν· ᾧ μάλιστα εἰώθασι οἱ ἀγνοοῦντες τὴν Ἑβραίων διάλεκτον χρῆσθαι, ὡς πάντων μᾶλλον ἐπιτετευγμένῳ. Τὰ δὲ παρʼ ἡμῖν ἀντίγραφα, ὧν καὶ τὰς λέξεις ἐξεθέμην, τὸ μὲν ἦν κατὰ τοὺς Ο΄· τὸ δὲ ἕτερον καοτί καὶ ὥσπερ παρʼ ἀμφοτέροις ἕκειτο τὸ περὶ τὴν Σωσάνναν, ὡς σὺ φὴς, πλάσμα, καὶ αἱ τελευταῖαι ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ περικοπαί· οὕτω καὶ ταῦτα ἐν ἕπεσιν, ὡς τοχασμῷ εἰπεῖν, τυγχάνοντα διακοσίοις καὶ πρός. ### English translation (Claude) First, you said that when I was in discussion with our friend Bassus and made use of the Scripture in which Daniel, while still young, prophesied about the affair of Susanna, I did so as though it had escaped me that this part of the book is spurious. You said that you praised the passage in a way, as something charming, but found fault with it as a recent composition and a fabrication; and that the writer, in a way that not even Philistion the mime-writer would, made up the little work out of the likeness of the names: prinos (holm oak) with prisis (sawing), and schinos (mastic tree) with schisis (splitting). These seem to be such in the Greek language, but not at all in Hebrew. Know, then, in reply, what we ought to do, not only about the story of Susanna, which is read in the Greek used by the Greeks in every church of Christ but is not found among the Hebrews; nor only about the two other passages at the end of the book, as you said, which record the stories of Bel and the dragon, and which likewise are not written in the Hebrews’ Daniel; but also about countless other things which, as far as our modest ability went, we found in many places when we compared our copies with the Hebrew ones. For in Daniel itself, at the burning furnace, we found “bound”; but in our copies there are not a few verses over and above those in the Hebrew, which, according to some of the copies read in the churches, began thus: “Hananiah and Azariah and Mishael prayed and sang hymns to the Lord,” down to “Bless, all who worship the Lord, the God of gods. Sing hymns and give thanks, for his mercy is forever, and to the ages of ages. And it came to pass, when the king heard them singing hymns, he saw them alive.” According to other copies: “And they walked in the midst of the flame, singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord,” down to “Bless, all who worship the Lord, the God of gods. Sing hymns and give thanks, for his mercy is for all the ages.” But in the Hebrew there followed directly the words, “And those three men, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, fell into the midst of the fire, bound,” and “King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished, and rose in haste, and answered and said to his nobles.” For so Aquila, who is a slave to the Hebrew wording, has rendered it; he has the reputation among the Jews of having translated the Scripture with particular care, and those who do not know the Hebrew language are most accustomed to use him, as the most successful of all. Of the copies we have, whose wording I have set out, one was according to the Seventy, the other according to Theodotion; and just as the so-called fabrication about Susanna, as you call it, and the final passages of Daniel stood in both, so too did these verses, amounting, to put it by estimate, to two hundred and more. ### Scripture references - Dan 3:23: quotation, high confidence - Dan 3:24 (3:91 LXX): quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus (Susanna): allusion, high confidence - Bel (Bel and the Dragon): allusion, high confidence - Pr Azar 1 (Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Young Men): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Philistion was a writer of mimes (popular farces) of the Augustan age. - The added verses are the Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three (Greek Dan 3:24–90); the verses Origen quotes from the Hebrew are Dan 3:23–24. - “According to Theodotion”: the digital text is corrupt here (καοτί); translated by sense, as the comparison with the two Greek versions requires. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 2 (PG 11:49–52; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-2). ## Letter to Africanus 3 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-3 - Source: PG 11:52–56 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen begins to give examples of books in which the Greek copies are longer or shorter than the Hebrew. ### Greek text Καὶ ἐν ἄλλοις δὲ πολλοῖς ἀγίοις βιβλίοις εὕρομεν. πὴ μὲν πλείονα παρʼ ἡμῖν κείμενα ἢ παρʼ Ἑβραίοις, πὴ δὲ λείποντα. Παραδείγματος δὲ ἕνεκεν, ἐπεὶ μὴ πάντα οἶόν τέ ἐστι περιλαβεῖν, ὀλίγα ἐκθησό ### English translation (Claude) And in many other holy books also we found some things fuller in our copies than among the Hebrews, and some things lacking. I will set out a few for the sake of example, since it is not possible to include everything … ### Translation notes - The digital text breaks off here; the examples from Esther and the opening of those from Job are missing from it. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 3 (PG 11:52–56; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-3). ## Letter to Africanus 4 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-4 - Source: PG 11:56 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen lists additions in the Greek Job, such as the longer speech of Job’s wife. ### Greek text Καὶ ὅτε « ἦλθον οἱ ἄγγελοι τοῦ Θεοῦ παρατῆναι ἐνώπιον τοῦ Θεοῦ, καὶ ὁ διάβολος ἦλθε μετʼ αὐτῶν, » τό· « Περιελθὼν τὴν γῆν καὶ ἐμπεριπατήσας ἐν αὐτῇ Ἔτι δὲ οὐκ ἦν παρʼ Ἑβραίοις μετὰ τό· Ὁ Κύριος ἔδωκεν, ὁ Κύριος ἀφείλετο· « Ὡς τῷ Κυρίῳ ἕδοξεν, οὕτω καὶ ἐγένετο. » Πλείονα δὲ ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις παρὰ τὰ Ἑβραῖκὰ, ὅτε εἶπε τῷ Ἰὼβ ἡ γυνὴ αὐτοῦ, ἀπὸ τοῦ· « Μέχρι τίνος καρτερήσεις; λέγων· Ἰδοὺ, ἀναμενῶ χρόνον ἕτι μικρὸν προσδεχόμενος τὴν ἐλπίδα τῆς σωτηρίας μου, » ἕως τοῦ· « ἵνα ἀναπαύσωμαι τῶν μόχθων μου καὶ τῶν ὀδυνῶν, αἵ με νῦν συνέχουσι» μόνον γὰρ τὰ ῥητὰ τῆς γυναικὸς ἀναγέγραπται· τό· « Ἀλλʼ εἶπόν τι ῥῆμα πρὸς Κύριον, καὶ τελεύτα. » ### English translation (Claude) … and when “the angels of God came to stand before God, and the devil came with them,” the words “Having gone about the earth and walked about in it.” Again, after “The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away,” the Hebrew did not have “As it seemed good to the Lord, so it came to pass.” And our copies have more than the Hebrew where Job’s wife spoke to him, from “How long will you hold out, saying, Look, I will wait a little longer, expecting the hope of my salvation,” down to “that I may rest from my labors and my pains, which now hold me”; for in the Hebrew only the woman’s words are recorded: “But say some word to the Lord, and die.” ### Scripture references - Job 1:6: quotation, high confidence - Job 1:7: quotation, high confidence - Job 1:21: quotation, high confidence - Job 2:9: quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The beginning of the sentence is lost in the digital text; the words from Job 1:7 are given as an example of a Greek addition, but the verb is missing. - The longer speech of Job’s wife is the Septuagint expansion of Job 2:9. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 4 (PG 11:56; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-4). ## Letter to Africanus 5 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-5 - Source: PG 11:56–60 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen notes passages missing from the Greek Job, the different order of Jeremiah, and differences in Genesis. ### Greek text Πάλιν τε αὖ πλεῖστά τε ὅσα διὰ μέσου ὅλου τοῦ Ἰὼβ παρʼ Ἑβραίοις μὲν κεῖται, παρʼ ἡμῖν δὲ οὐχί· καὶ πολλάκις μὲν ἔπη τέσσαρα ἢ τρία, ἔσθʼ ὅτε δὲ καὶ δεκατέσσαρα καὶ δεκαεννέα καὶ δεκαέξ. Καὶ τί με δεῖ καταλέγειν ἃ μετὰ πολλοῦ καμάτου ἀνελεξάμεθα, ὑπὲρ τοῦ μὴ λανθάνειν ἡμᾶς τὴν διαφορὰν τῶν παρὰ Ἰουδαίοις καὶ ἡμῖν ἀντιγράφων; Πολλὰ δὲ τοιαῦτα καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ κατενοήσαμεν, ἐν ᾧ καὶ πολλὴν μετάθεσιν καὶ ἐναλλαγὴν τῆς λέξεως τῶν προφητευομένων εὕρομεν. Καὶ ἐν τῇ Γενέσει δὲ τό· « Εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς, ὅτι καλὸν, » ἐπὶ τῷ γενέσθαι στερέωμα, παρʼ Ἑβραίοις οὐχ εὑρίσκεται· καὶ πρόβλημα δέ ἐστι παρʼ αὐτοῖς οὐ τὸ τυχὸν τοῦτο. Καὶ ἅλλα δὲ ἕστιν εὑρεῖν ἐν τῇ Γενέσει, οἷς σημεῖα παρε- ### English translation (Claude) Again, a great many things throughout the whole of Job are found among the Hebrews but not in our copies, often four or three verses, sometimes even fourteen, nineteen, and sixteen. And why need I list what we gathered with much labor, so that the difference between the copies of the Jews and ours should not escape us? We noticed many such things in Jeremiah too, in which we also found much transposition and alteration of the wording of the prophecies. In Genesis also, “God saw that it was good,” at the making of the firmament, is not found among the Hebrews; and among them this is no small problem. Other things too can be found in Genesis, to which [I] attached signs … ### Scripture references - Gen 1:8: allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The digital text breaks off mid-word here; the rest of the argument (Origen’s critical signs, Exodus, and the opening of the following question) is missing from it. - Gen 1:8: the words are in the Greek but not in the Hebrew. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 5 (PG 11:56–60; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-5). ## Letter to Africanus 6 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-6 - Source: PG 11:60 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen asks whether Providence, which gave the churches their Scriptures, would have neglected those for whom Christ died. ### Greek text Γραφαῖς δεδωκυῖα πάσαις ταῖς Χριστοῦ Ἐκκλησίαις οἰκοδομὴν, οὐκ ἐφρόντισε « τῶν τιμῆς ἀγορασθέντων, ὑπὲρ ὦν Χριστὸς ἀπέθανεν· » οὗ Υἱοῦ ὄντος « οὐκ ἐφείσατο ὁ Θεὸς, » ἡ ἀγάπη, « ἀλλʼ ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν πάντων παρέδωκεν αὐτὸν, ἵνα σὺν αὐτῷ τὰ πάντα ἡμῖν χαρίσηται; » ### English translation (Claude) … in the holy Scriptures, having given edification to all the churches of Christ, took no thought for “those bought with a price, for whom Christ died,” whose Son, though he was his Son, “God,” who is love, “did not spare, but gave him up for us all, that with him he might freely give us all things”? ### Scripture references - 1 Cor 6:20: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 14:15: allusion, medium confidence - Rom 8:32: quotation, high confidence - 1 John 4:8: echo, medium confidence ### Translation notes - The beginning of the sentence is lost in the digital text; the subject is a feminine noun, evidently Providence. The question expects the answer no. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 6 (PG 11:60; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-6). ## Letter to Africanus 7 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-7 - Source: PG 11:60–61 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen urges respect for the churches’ inherited Scriptures while explaining why he also studies the Hebrew text. ### Greek text Πρὸς ταῦτα δὲ σκόπει, εἰ μὴ καλὸν μεμνῆσθαι τοῦ· « Οὐ μεταθήσεις ὅρια αἰώνια, ἃ ἔστησαν οἱ πρότεροί σου; » Καὶ ταῦτα δὲ φημὶ οὐχὶ ὅκνῳ τοῦ ἐρευνᾷν καὶ τὰς κατὰ Ἰουδαίους Γραφὰς, καὶ πάσας τὰς ἡμετέρας ταῖς ἐκείνων συγκρίνειν, καὶ ὁρᾷν τὰς ἐν αὐταῖς διαφοράς. Εἰ μὴ φορτικὸν γοῦν εἰπεῖν, ἐπὶ πολὺ τοῦτο, ὅση δύναμις, πεποιήκαμεν, γυμνάζοντες αὑτῶν τὸν νοῦν ἐν πάσαις ταῖς ἐκδόσεσι καὶ ταῖς διαφοραῖς αὐτῶν, μετὰ τοῦ ποσῶς μᾶλλον ἀσκεῖν τὴν ἑρμηνείαν τῶν Ο΄· ἵνα μή τι παραχαράττειν δοκοίημεν ταῖς ὑπὸ τὸν οὐρανὸν Ἐκκλησίαις, καὶ προφάσεις διδῶμεν τοῖς ζητοῦσιν ἀφορμὰς, ἐθέλουσι τοὺς ἐν μέσῳ συκοφαντεῖν, καὶ τῶν διαφαινομένων ἐν τῷ κοινῷ κατηγορεῖν. Ἀσκοῦμεν δὲ μὴ ἀγνοεῖν καὶ τὰς παρʼ ἐκείνοις, ἵνα, πρὸς Ἰουδαίους διαλεγόμενοι, μὴ προφέρωμεν αὐτοῖς τὰ μὴ κείμενα ἐν τοῖς ἀντιγράφοις αὐτῶν, καὶ ἵνα συγχρησώμεθα τοῖς φερομένοις παρʼ ἐκείνοις· εἰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ἡμετέροις οὐ κεῖται βιβλίοις· τοιαύτης γὰρ οὕσης ἡμῶν τῆς πρὸς αὐτοὺς ἐν ταῖς ζητήσεσι παρασκευῆς, οὐ καταφρονήσουσιν, οὐδʼ ὡς ἕθος αὐτοῖς, γελάσονται τοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν ἐθνῶν πιστεύοντας, ὡς τʼ ἀληθῆ καὶ παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἀναγεγραμμένα ἀγνοοῦντας. Ταῦτα μὲν οὖν εἰρήσθω πρὸς τὸ μὴ φέρεσθαι παρʼ Ἑβραίοις τὰ περὶ Σωσάννης. ### English translation (Claude) In view of this, consider whether it is not good to remember the words, “You shall not remove the everlasting boundaries which those before you set.” I say this not from reluctance to search the Scriptures as the Jews have them as well, and to compare all of ours with theirs and see the differences in them. Indeed, if it is not tiresome to say so, we have done this to a great extent, as far as we were able, exercising our mind in all the editions and their differences, while devoting ourselves somewhat more to the translation of the Seventy, so that we might not seem to put anything counterfeit into circulation in the churches under heaven, and give pretexts to those who seek occasions, wishing to slander those in our midst and to accuse those who are conspicuous in the community. We also take pains not to be ignorant of their readings, so that in discussion with Jews we may not bring before them what is not in their copies, and may make use of what is current among them, even if it is not in our books. For when our preparation for discussions with them is of this kind, they will not despise us, nor laugh, as is their habit, at believers from the Gentiles as ignorant of the true readings recorded among them. Let this much be said, then, about the story of Susanna not being found among the Hebrews. ### Scripture references - Prov 22:28: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 7 (PG 11:60–61; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-7). ## Letter to Africanus 8 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-8 - Source: PG 11:61 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen reports that Jewish scholars he consulted could not say whether the Greek wordplay in Susanna has a Hebrew equivalent. ### Greek text Ἴδωμεν δὲ καὶ ἃ προσφέρεις τῷ λόγῳ ἐγκλήματα. Καὶ πρῶτόν γε ἀρξώμεθα ἀπὸ τοῦ δυνηθέντος ἂν δυσωπῆσαι πρὸς τὸ μὴ παραδέξασθαι τὴν ἱστορίαν· ὅπερ ἐστὶ τὸ περὶ τὴν παρωνυμίαν πρίνου μὲν πρὸς, πρίσιν, σχίνου δὲ πρὸς σχίσιν· περὶ οὗ σὺ μὲν ἀπεφήνω, ὡς καταλαβὼν τίνα τρόπον ἐν μὲν ἑλληνικαῖς φωναῖς τοιαῦτα ὁμοφωνεῖν συμβαίνει, ἐν δὲ τῇ Ἑβραΐδι τῷ παντὶ διέστηκεν· ἐγὼ δὲ ἕτι ἀμφιβάλλω· ἐπείπερ φροντίσας τῶν κατὰ τὸν τόπον, τῷ καὶ αὐτὸς ἠπορηκέναι ἐν αὐτοῖς, οὐκ ὀλίγοις Ἑβραίοις ἀνεθέμην πυνθανόμενος, πῶς παρ ʼαὐτοῖς ὀνομάζεται πρῖνος, καὶ πῶς λέγουσι τὸ πρίζειν· ἕτι δὲ εἰς τί μεταλαμβάνουσι τὴν σχῖνον τὸ φυτὸν, καὶ πῶς τὸ σχίζειν ὀνομάζουσιν. Οἱ δὲ τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν ἔφασκον ἀγνοεῖν φωνὴν τὴν πρίνου καὶ τὴν σχίνου· ἀπῄτουν δὲ αὐτοῖς δειχθῆναι τὰ δένδρα, ἵνʼ εἵδειεν ποίας ἐπὶ τούτων αὐτοὶ τάσσουσι φωνάς. Καὶ (φίλη γὰρ ἡ ἀλήθεια), οὐκ ἠπόρησα αὐτοῖς ὅψει παραστῆσαι τὰ ξύλα. Ἄλλος δὲ ἕφασκε τὰ μὴ ὀνομασθέντα τῶν Γραφῶν ποὺ οὐκ ἕχειν διαβεβαιώσασθαι, ὅπως Ἑβραῖστὶ λέγεται· προπετὲς δὲ εἶναι, τὸν ἀπορήσαντα φωνῇ τῇ Συριακῇ χρήσασθαι ἀντὶ τῆς Ἑβραΐδος· καὶ ἕλεγε, καὶ παρὰ τοῖς πάνυ σοφοῖς ἐνίοτε λέξεις τινὰς ζητεῖσθαι. Εἰ μὲν οὖν, φησὶ, ἕχεις τι παραστῆσαι τὴν σχῖνον ὅπως ποτὲ ὀνομασθεῖσαν ἔν τινι Γραφῇ, ἢ τὴν πρῖνον, ἐκεῖθεν ἂν εὕροιμεν τὸ ζητούμενον, καὶ τὴν παρʼ αὐτὰ παρωνυμίαν· εἰ δὲ μηδαμοῦ ὠνομάσθη, καὶ ἡμᾶς διαλανθάνει τὸ τοιοῦτον. Τούτων οὖν ὅσον ἐπὶ μὴ ἱστορίᾳ ὑπὸ Ἑβραίων, οἷς συνέμιξα, εἰρημένων, ἐγὼ μὲν εὐλαβῶς ἕχω ἀποφήνασθαι, πότερον καὶ παρʼ Ἑβραίοις ἡ ἰσοδυναμία τῶν κατὰ ταῦτα παρωνυμιῶν σώζεται, ἢ οὔ· σὺ δὲ ὅπως διεβεβαιώσω, αὐτὸς οἶδας ἴσως. ### English translation (Claude) Let us look also at the charges you bring against the story. And first let us begin with what might have made one reluctant to accept the story: the play on words, prinos with prisis, and schinos with schisis. About this you declared, as one who had understood the matter, that such words happen to sound alike in Greek, whereas in Hebrew they are entirely different. But I am still in doubt. For being concerned about the passage, since I myself had been perplexed by it, I consulted not a few Hebrews, asking how prinos is named among them and how they say “to saw”; and further what they render schinos, the plant, by, and how they name “to split.” They said they did not know the Greek words prinos and schinos, and asked to be shown the trees, so that they might know which names they themselves give them. And (for truth is dear) I did not hesitate to set the wood before their eyes. Another said that he could not affirm how something not named in the Scriptures is called in Hebrew, and that it was rash for someone at a loss to use a Syriac word instead of the Hebrew; and he said that even among the very learned certain words are sometimes a matter of inquiry. “If, then,” he says, “you can show schinos or prinos named anywhere in some Scripture, from that we might find what is sought and the play on words that goes with it; but if it is named nowhere, this escapes us too.” Since, then, this is what the Hebrews with whom I spoke said, as far as their knowledge went, I am cautious about declaring whether the equivalence of these plays on words is preserved among the Hebrews or not; but how you came to affirm it, you yourself perhaps know. ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 54–59 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “As far as their knowledge went”: the digital text (ὅσον ἐπὶ μὴ ἱστορίᾳ) is doubtful; translated by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 8 (PG 11:61; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-8). ## Letter to Africanus 9 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-9 - Source: PG 11:61–64 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen identifies the two elders with Ahab and Zedekiah of Jeremiah 29 and explains their sawing and splitting as punishment in the judgment after death. ### Greek text Μέμνημαι μέν τοί γε φιλομαθεῖ Ἑβραίῳ, καὶ χρηματίχοντι παρʼ αὐτοῖς σοφοῦ υἱῷ, ἀνατραφέντι ἐπὶ τὸ διαδέξασθαι τὸν πατέρα, συμμίξας περὶ πλειόνων· ἀφʼ οὖ ὡς μὴ ἀθετουμένης τῆς περὶ Σωσάννης ἱστορίας ἐμάνθανον καὶ τὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ὀνόματα, ὡς παρὰ τῷ Ἱερεμίᾳ κείμενα τοῦτον ἔχοντα τὸν τρόπον· « Ποιήσαι σε Κύριος, ὡς Σεδεκίαν ἐποίησε, καὶ ὡς Ἀχιὰβ, οὕς ἀπετηγάνισε βασιλεὺς Βαβυλῶνος ἐν πυρὶ διʼ ἥν ἐποίησαν ἀνομίαν ἐν Ἰσραήλ.» Πῶς ὁ μὲν ὑπʼ ἀγγέλου πρίζεται, ὁ δὲ σχίζεται; λεκτέον, οὐ κατὰ τὸν ἐνεστῶτα αἰῶνα ταῦτα αὐτοῖς προφητεύεσθαι, ἀλλʼ εἰς τὴν ὑπὸ Θεοῦ μετὰ τὴν ἐντεῦθεν ἕξοδον κρίσιν. Ὡς γὰρ τὸν πονηρὸν οἰκονόμον λέγοντα· « Χρονίζει ὁ κύριός μου ἕρχεσθαι· » καὶ διὰ τοῦτο μέθαις σχολάζοντα, καὶ ἐσθίοντα καὶ πίνοντα μετὰ τῶν μεθυόντων. καὶ τύπτοντα τοὺς συνδούλους, ὁ κύριος ἐλθὼν « διχοτομήσει, καὶ τὸ μέρος αὐτοῦ μετὰ τῶν ἀπίστων θήσει· » οὕτω καὶ τούτους πρεσβυτέρους μὲν χρηματίσαντας, κακῶς δὲ τὴν οἰκονομίαν οἰκονομήσαντας, ἀναλόγως τῷ ἐκεῖ διχοτομεῖσθαι τὸν μοχθηρὸν οἰκονόμον, ἄγγελοι ἐπὶ τῶν κολάσεων τεταγμένοι τινὲς ταῦτα διαθήσουσι· καὶ ὁ μὲν σχίσει «πεπαλαιωμένον ἡμερῶν κακῶν, κρίναντα κρίσεις ἀδίκους, καὶ τοὺς μὲν ἀθώους κατακρίναντα, ἀπολύοντα δὲ τοὺς αἰτίους· » ὁ δὲ πρίσει ὡς « σπέρμα Χαναὰν ὑπάρχοντα, καὶ οὐκ Ἰούδα, τὸν ὑπὸ τοῦ κάλλους ἐξηπατημένον, καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας διαστραφέντα τὴν καρδίαν. » ### English translation (Claude) I remember, however, conversing on many subjects with a learned Hebrew, who was called among them the son of a wise man and had been brought up to succeed his father. From him, as one who did not reject the story of Susanna, I learned also the names of the elders, as they occur in Jeremiah, in this way: “May the Lord make you as he made Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire because of the lawlessness they committed in Israel.” How, then, is one sawn by an angel and the other split? It must be said that these things are not prophesied for them in the present age, but for the judgment by God after their departure from here. For just as the master will come and “cut in two” the wicked steward who says, “My master is delaying his coming,” and therefore gives himself to drunkenness, eating and drinking with the drunken and beating his fellow servants, “and will put his portion with the unfaithful,” so too with these men, who held the title of elders but administered their stewardship badly: certain angels appointed over punishments will deal with them in a way corresponding to the cutting in two of the wicked steward there. One will split the man “grown old in wicked days, who judged unjust judgments, condemning the innocent and letting the guilty go free”; the other will saw the one who was “the offspring of Canaan and not of Judah, deceived by beauty, his heart perverted by desire.” ### Scripture references - Jer 29:22 (36:22 LXX): quotation, high confidence - Matt 24:48: quotation, high confidence - Matt 24:51: quotation, high confidence - Luke 12:46: quotation, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 52–53 (Susanna): quotation, high confidence - Sus 56 (Susanna): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Jer 29:22 (LXX 36:22). - The descriptions of the elders are from Susanna 52–53 and 56. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 9 (PG 11:61–64; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-9). ## Letter to Africanus 10 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-10 - Source: PG 11:64–65 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen reports a Jewish tradition that the two elders seduced women by claiming they would father the Messiah. ### Greek text Καὶ ἕτερον δὲ οἷδα Ἑβραῖον, περὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων τούτων τοιαύτας παραδόσεις φέροντα, ὅτι τοῖς ἐν τῇ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ ἐλπίζουσιν διὰ τῆς Χριστοῦ ἐπιδημίας ἐλευθερωθήσεσθαι ἀπὸ τῆς ὑπὸ τοῖς ἐχθροῖς δουλείας προσεποιοῦντο οἱ πρεσβύτεροι οὗτοι ὡς εἰδότες τὰ περὶ Χριστοῦ σαφηνίζειν· καὶ ἑκάτερος αὐτῶν ἀνὰ μέρος ᾗ περιετύγχανε γυναικὶ, καὶ ἥν διαφθεῖραι ἐβούλετο, ἐν ἀποῤῥήτῳ δῆθεν ἔφασκεν, ὡς ἅρα δέδοται αὐτῷ ἀπὸ Θεοῦ σπεῖραι τὸν Χριστόν· εἶτʼ ἀπατωμένη τῇ ἐλπίδι τοῦ γεννῆσαι τὸν Χριστὸν ἡ γυνὴ, ἐπεδίδου ἑαυτὴν τῷ ἀπατῶντι· καὶ οὕτως ἐμοιχῶντο τὰς γυναῖκας τῶν πολιτῶν οἱ πρεσβύτεροι Ἀχιὰβ καὶ Σεδεκίας. Διὸ καλῶς ὑπὸ τοῦ Δανιὴλ ὁ μὲν εἴρηται « πεπαλαιωμένος ἡμερῶν κακῶν· » ὁ δὲ ἤκουσε τό· « Οὕτως ἐποιεῖτε ταῖς θυγατράσιν Ἰσραὴλ, κἀκεῖναι φοβούμεναι ὡμίλουν ὑμῖν· ἀλλʼ οὐ θυγάτηρ Ἰούδα ὑπέμεινε τὴν ἀνομίαν ὑμῶν. » Τάχα γὰρ ἀπάτη καὶ φόβος δυνάμενα ἐν ταῖς γυναιξὶν, ἐποἰει αὐτὰς παρέχειν ἑαυτῶν τὰ σώματα τοῖς λεγομένοις τοὐτοις πρεσβυτέροις. ### English translation (Claude) I know another Hebrew, too, who related traditions about these elders of this kind: that to those in the captivity who hoped to be freed from slavery under their enemies through the coming of Christ, these elders pretended to know how to explain the things concerning Christ; and each of them separately would tell any woman he came across and wished to corrupt, as a secret, that it had been granted him by God to beget the Christ. Then the woman, deceived by the hope of bearing the Christ, gave herself to the deceiver; and in this way the elders Ahab and Zedekiah committed adultery with the wives of their fellow citizens. That is why the one is rightly called by Daniel “grown old in wicked days,” while the other heard the words, “This is how you treated the daughters of Israel, and they, out of fear, had intercourse with you; but a daughter of Judah did not endure your lawlessness.” For perhaps deceit and fear, which have power over women, made them yield their bodies to these so-called elders. ### Scripture references - Jer 29:23 (36:23 LXX): allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 52 (Susanna): quotation, high confidence - Sus 57 (Susanna): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - The tradition reflects Jer 29:23 (“they committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives”). ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 10 (PG 11:64–65; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-10). ## Letter to Africanus 11 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-11 - Source: PG 11:65–68 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen argues that Jewish leaders removed passages discrediting elders and judges from public Scripture, citing the sawing of Isaiah, Jesus’ words on the prophets, Stephen, and Paul. ### Greek text Ἀλλʼ εἰκὸς πρὸς ταῦτά σε ζητήσειν τί δήποτε οὐ φέρεται παρʼ αὐτοῖς ἐν τῷ Δανιὴλ ἡ ἱστορία, εἰ, ὡς φῂς, τοιαῦτα περὶ αὐτῆς οἱ σοφοὶ αὐτῶν παραδιδόασι. Λεκτέον δὲ πρὸς ταῦτα, ὅτι ὅσα δεδύνηνται τῶν περιεχόντων κατηγορίαν πρεσβυτέρων, καὶ ἀρχόντων, καὶ κριτῶν, περιεῖλον ἀπὸ τῆς γνώσεως τοῦ λαοῦ, ὧν τινὰ σώζεται ἐν ἀποκρύφοις. Καὶ τούτου παράδειγμα δώσομεν τὰ περὶ τὸν Ἡσαΐαν ἱστορούμενα. καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς πρὸς Ἑβραίους Ἐπιστολῆς μαρτυρούμενα, ἐν οὐδενὶ τῶν φανερῶν βιβλίων γεγραμμένα· περὶ γὰρ τῶν προφητῶν διεξερχόμενος, καὶ ὧν πεπόνθασιν, ὁ τὴν πρὸς Ἑβραίους γράψας φησίν· « Ἐλιθάσθησαν, ἐπρίσθησαν, ἐν φόνῳ μαχαίρας ἀπέθανον. » Πευσόμεθα γὰρ ἐπὶ τίνα ἀναφέρηται τὸ, « ἐπρίσθησαν, » κατὰ τι ἕθος ἀρχαῖον οὐ μόνον Ἑβραῖκὸν, ἀλλὰ καὶ Ἑλληνικὸν, πληθυντικῶς λεγόμενον περὶ ἑνός. Σαφὲς δʼ ὅτι αἱ παραδόσεις λέγουσι πεπρίσθαι Ἡσαΐαν τὸν προφήτην· καὶ ἕν τινι ἀποκρύφῳ τοῦτο φέρεται· ὅπερ τάχα ἐπίτηδες ὑπὸ Ἰουδαίων ῥερᾳδιούργηται, λέξεις τινὰς τὰς μὴ πρεπούσας παρεμβεβληκότων τῇ γραφῇ, ἵνʼ ἡ ὅλη ἀπιστηθῇ ἀλλʼ εἰκός τινα, θλιβόμενον ἀπὸ τῆς εἰς ταῦτα ἀποδείξεως, συγχρήσασθαι τῷ βουλήματι τῶν ἀθετούντων τὴν Ἐπιστολὴν, ὡς οὺ Παύλῳ γεγραμμένην· πρὸς ὅν ἅλλων λόγων κατʼ ἰδίαν χρῄζομεν εἰς ἀπόδειξιν τοῦ εἷναι Παύλου τὴν ἐπιστολήν. Παραθήσομαι οὖν ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος ἀπὸ τοῦ Εὐαγγελίου τὰ ὑπὸ Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ περὶ τῶν προφητῶν μαρτυρούμενα, καὶ ἱστορίαν ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ μὲν λεγομένην, ἐν δὲ ταῖς παλαιαῖς Γραφαῖς μὴ φερομένην, ἐπεὶ καὶ αὐτὴ κατηγορίαν περιέχει τῶν ἀνόμων ἐν τῷ Ἰσραὴλ κριτῶν ἕχει δὲ οὕτως ἡ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος εἰρημένη λέξις. « Οὐαὶ ὑμῖν, γραμματεῖς καὶ φαρισαῖοι ὑποκριταὶ, ὅτι οἰκοδομεῖτε τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν καὶ κοσμεῖτε τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων, καὶ λέγετε· Εἰ ἦμεν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῶν πατέρων ἡμῶν, οὐκ ἄν ἧμεν κοινωνοὶ αὐτῶν ἐν τῷ αἵματι τῶν προφητῶν. Ὥστε μαρτυρεῖτε ἑαυτοῖς, ὅτι υἱοὶ ἐστὲ τῶν φονευσάντων τοὺς προφήτας. Καὶ ὑμεῖς πληρώσατε τὸ μέτρον τῶν πατέρων ὑμῶν. Ὄφεις, γεννήματα ἐχιδνῶν, πῶς φύγητε ἀπὸ τῆς κρίσεως τῆς γεἐννης; Διὰ τοῦτο ἰδοὺ ἀποστέλλω πρὸς ὑμᾶς προφήτας, καὶ σοφοὺς, καὶ γραμματεῖς. Ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀποκτενεῖτε, καὶ σταυρώσετε, καὶ ἐξ αὐτῶν μαστιγώσετε ἐν ταῖς συναγωγαῖς ὑμῶν, καὶ διώξετε ἀπὸ πόλεως εἰς πόλιν, ὅπως ἔλθῃ ἐφʼ ὑμᾶς πᾶν αἷμα δίκαιον ἐκχυνόμενον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἀπὸ τοῦ αἵματος Ἄβελ τοῦ δικαίου ἕως τοῦ αἵματος Ζαχαρίου υἱοῦ Βαραχίου, ὅν ἐφονεύσατε μεταξὺ τοῦ ναοῦ καὶ τοῦ θυσιαστηρίου. Ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, ὅτι ἥξει ταῦτα πάντα ἐπὶ τὴν γενεὰν ταύτην. » Καὶ τὸ ἐξῆς δὲ τούτων, οὐκ ἀπᾴδει τῶν προκειμένων οὕτως ἕχον· Ἰερουσαλὴμ, Ἰερουσαλὴμ, ἡ ἀποκτείνασα τοὺς προφήτας, καὶ λιθοβολοῦσα τοὺς ἀπεσταλμένους πρὸς αὑτήν· ποσάκις ἠθέλησα ἐπισυναγαγεῖν τὰ τέκνα σου, ὅν τρόπον ὄρνις συνάγει τὰ νοσσία ἑαυτῆς ὑπὸ τὰς πτέρυγας, καὶ οὐκ ἐθελήσατε· ἰδοὺ ἀφίεται ὑμῖν ὁ οἶκος ὑμῶν ἕρημος. » Καὶ ἵδωμέν γε εἰ μὴ λεκτέον, ἐν τούτοις, τὸν μὲν Σωτῆρα ἀληθεύειν, οὐχ εὑρίσκεσθαι δὲ τὰς Γραφὰς, ὅσαι δηλοῦσι τὰ ὑπὸ τοῦ Σωτῆρος ἱστορούμενα· οἱ γὰρ οἰκοδομοῦντες τοὺς τάφους τῶν προφητῶν, καὶ κοσμοῦντες τὰ μνημεῖα τῶν δικαίων, καταγνόντες τῶν ὑπὸ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων εἰς ἐπὶ πολλοῖς, καὶ ταῦτα λέγει· « Τίνα τῶν προφητῶν οὐκ ἐδίωξαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν, καὶ ἀπέκτειναν τοὺς προκαταγγείλαντας περὶ τῆς ἐλεύσεως τοῦ Δικαίου, οὗ νῦν ὑμεῖς προδόται καὶ φονεῖς ἐγένεσθε; » Ἀληθεύειν μὲν γὰρ τὸν Στέφανον πᾶς ὁστισοῦν τῶν προσιεμένων τὰς Πράξεις τῶν ἀποστόλων ὁμολογήσει ἀποδεῖξαι δὲ καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς παλαιᾶς Διαθήκης, πῶς εὐλόγως μέμφεται τοῖς πατράσι τῶν εἰς τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἀπιστούντων, ὡς διώξασι τοὺς προφήτας καὶ ἀποκτείνασιν, οὐ δυνατὸν ἀπὸ τῶν φερομένων βιβλίων τῆς Καινῆς Διαθήκης· καὶ ὁ Παῦλος ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ τῆς πρὸς Θεσσαλονικεῖς ἐπιστολῆς ταῦτα περὶ Ἰουδαίων μαρτυρῶν φησίν· « ῾ Υμεῖς γὰρ μιμηταὶ ἐγενήθητε τῶν Ἐκκλησιῶν τοῦ Θεοῦ, τῶν οὐσῶνὲν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ ἐν Χριστῷ Ἰησοῦ· ὅτι καὶ ὑμεῖς τὰ αὐτὰ ἐπάθετε ὑπὸ τῶν ἰδίων συμφυλετῶν, καθὼς καὶ αὐτοὶ ὑπὸ τῶν Ἰουδαίων, τῶν καὶ τὸν Κύριον ἀποκτεινάντων, καὶ τοὺς προφήτας, καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐκδιωξάντων, καὶ Θεῷ μὴ ἀρεσκόντων, καὶ πᾶσιν ἀνθρώποις ἐναντίων· κωλυόντων ἡμᾶς τοῖς ἔθνεσι λαλῆσαι, ἵνα σωθῶσι. » Καὶ οἶμαι δὲ ἀποδεδειχέναι ἐν τοῖς προκειμένοις, ὅτι οὐδὲν ἄτοπόν ἐστι, γεγονέναι μὲν τὴν ἱστορίαν, καὶ τὴν μετὰ πολλῆς ἀκολασίας ὠμότητα τετολμῆσθαι τοῖς τότε πρεσβυτέροις κατὰ τῆς Σωσάννης, καὶ γεγράφθαι μὲν προνοίᾳ τοῦ Πνεύματος, ὑπεξαιρεῖσθαι δὲ, ὡς ἂν εἵποι τὸ Πνεῦμα, ὑπὸ τῶν ἀρχόντων Σοδόμων. ### English translation (Claude) But you will probably ask in reply why, if their wise men hand down such traditions about it, as you say, the story is not found among them in Daniel. To this it must be said that whatever passages contained accusations against elders, rulers, and judges they removed, as far as they could, from the knowledge of the people; and some of these are preserved in apocryphal writings. As an example of this we will give what is related about Isaiah and attested by the Epistle to the Hebrews, though written in none of the public books. For the writer to the Hebrews, going through the prophets and what they suffered, says: “They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they died by the sword.” We will ask, then, to whom “they were sawn in two” refers, said in the plural of one person according to an ancient usage, not only Hebrew but also Greek. It is clear that the traditions say Isaiah the prophet was sawn in two; and this is found in a certain apocryphal work, which the Jews have perhaps deliberately tampered with, inserting certain unfitting expressions into the writing so that the whole might be disbelieved. But someone hard pressed by the proof of these things may perhaps make use of the view of those who reject the Epistle as not written by Paul; against him we need other arguments, separately, to prove that the epistle is Paul’s. For the present, then, I will set out from the Gospel what Jesus Christ testifies about the prophets, and a story told by him but not found in the old Scriptures, since it too contains an accusation against the lawless judges in Israel. The Savior’s words run as follows: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in the blood of the prophets. So you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers. Serpents, brood of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna? Therefore, look, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from city to city, so that upon you may come all the righteous blood poured out on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.” And what follows these words is not out of keeping with the subject before us; it runs thus: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kill the prophets and stone those sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate.” And let us see whether we must not say in these matters that the Savior speaks the truth, but that the Scriptures which would show what the Savior relates are not found. For those who build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, condemning what was done by the elders … and he says this: “Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you have now become.” Everyone who accepts the Acts of the Apostles will admit that Stephen speaks the truth; but to show from the Old Testament how he rightly blames the fathers of those who disbelieved in Jesus as having persecuted and killed the prophets is not possible from the books in circulation. And Paul, in the first epistle to the Thessalonians, bears this witness about the Jews: “For you became imitators of the churches of God that are in Judea in Christ Jesus, because you too suffered the same things from your own fellow countrymen as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord and the prophets, and drove us out, and do not please God, and are opposed to all people, hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved.” And I think I have shown in what precedes that there is nothing absurd in supposing that the story happened, that the elders of that time dared this cruelty, with great licentiousness, against Susanna, and that it was written by the providence of the Spirit but removed by “the rulers of Sodom,” as the Spirit might call them. ### Scripture references - Heb 11:37: quotation, high confidence - Matt 23:29–36: quotation, high confidence - Matt 23:37–38: quotation, high confidence - Acts 7:52: quotation, high confidence - 1 Thess 2:14–16: quotation, high confidence - Isa 1:10: allusion, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Ascen. Isa. 5.1–14 (Ascension of Isaiah): allusion, high confidence - Sus (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The sawing of Isaiah is told in the Ascension of Isaiah 5. - Origen’s claim that Jewish leaders suppressed or tampered with writings is his own argument, stated as written. - Words are lost in the digital text before the quotation of Acts 7:52 (the argument about the tombs of the prophets and the introduction of Stephen); marked “…”. - “The books in circulation”: the digital text reads “of the New Testament”, evidently a slip; the argument requires the Old Testament, named earlier in the sentence. - “Rulers of Sodom” is from Isa 1:10. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 11 (PG 11:65–68; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-11). ## Letter to Africanus 12 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-12 - Source: PG 11:68–73 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen answers that prophets received revelation in several ways, as Jacob did by dreams, visions, and inspiration. ### Greek text Πρὸς τούτοις ἕφασκες, ὅτι ὁ Δανιὴλ ὑπὸ μὲν τῆς Γραφῆς ταύτης λέγεται Πνεύματι ληφθεὶς ἐκβεβοηκέναι, ὡς ἀδίκως ἡ ἀπόφασις ἔχοι, ἡ δὲ φερομένη ὁμολογουμένως ὑπʼ αὐτοῦ Γραφὴ ἄλλῳ τρόπῳ περιέχει αὐτὸν προφητεύοντα, τουτέστιν ὁράμασι, καὶ ὀνείροις, καὶ ἀγγέλου ἐπιφανείᾳ· οὐδαμοῦ δὲ ἐπιπνοίᾳ προφητικῇ. Σὺ δέ μοι ἔοικας μὴ πάνυ τετηρηκέναι τὸ, « Πολυμερῶς καὶ πολυτρόπως πάλαι τὸν Θεὸν λελαληκέναι τοῖς πατράσιν ἐν τοῖς προφήταις, » οὐ μόνον ἐν τοῖς πᾶσιν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν τοῖς καθʼ ἕνα. Παρατηρήσας δὲ εὑρήσεις τοῖς αὐτοῖς ἁγίοις καὶ ἐνύπνια γενόμενα θεῖα καὶ ἐπιφανείας ἀγγελικὰς, καὶ ἐπιπνοίας. Ἀρκεῖ δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ παρόντος μαρτυρίαις χρήσασθαι τοῖς περὶ τοῦ Ἰακὼβ γεγραμμένοις· ὅς περὶ μὲν θείων ἐνυπνίων τοιαῦτα διηγεῖται· « Καὶ ἐγένετο, ἡνίκα ἐνεκίσσων τὰ πρόβατα, καὶ εἶδον ἐν τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς μου αὐτὰ ἐν ὕπνῳ, καὶ ἰδοὺ οἱ τράγοι καὶ οἱ κριοὶ ἀναβαίνοντες ἦσαν ἐπὶ τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τὰς αἶγας, διάλευκοι, καὶ ποικίλοι, καὶ σποδοειδεῖς ῥαντοί. Καὶ εἶπέ μοι ὁ ἅνγελος τοῦ Θεοῦ καθʼ ὕπνον· Ἰακώβ. Ἐγὼ δὲ εἶπον· Τί ἐστι; καὶ εἶπεν· Ἀνάβλεψον τοῖς ὀφθαλμοῖς σου, καὶ ἵδε τοὺς τράγους καὶ τοὺς κριοὺς ἀναβαίνοντας ἐπὶ τὰ πρόβατα καὶ τὰς αἶγας, διαλεύκους, καὶ ποικίλους, καὶ σποδοειδεῖς ῥαντούς· ἑώρακα γὰρ ὅσα σοι Λάβαν ποιεῖ. Ἐγώ εἰμι ὁ Θεὸς ὁ ὀφθείς σοι ἐν τόπῳ Θεοῦ οὗ ἤλειψάς μοι ἐκεῖ στήλην, καὶ ηὕξω μοι ἐκεῖ εὐχήν. Νῦν οὖν ἀνάστηθι καὶ ἔξελθε ἐκ τῆς γῆς ταύτης, καὶ ἄπελθε εἰς τὴν γῆν τῆς γεννήσεώς σου. » Περὶ δὲ ἐπιφανείας ὕπαρ κρείττονος, ταῦτα περὶ αὐτοῦ εἵρηται· «῾Υπελείφθη δὲ Ἰακὼβ μόνος· καὶ ἐπάλαιεν ἅνθρωπος μετʼ αὐτοῦ ἕως πρωΐ. Εἶδε δὲ, ὅτι οὐ δύναται πρὸς αὐτὸν, καὶ ἥψατο τοῦ πλάτους τοῦ μηροῦ αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐνάρκησε τὸ πλάτος τοῦ μηροῦ Ἰακὼβ, ἐν τῷ παλαίειν αὐτὸν μετʼ αὐτοῦ, καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· Ἀπόστειλόν με· ἀνέβη γὰρ ὁ ὅρθρος. Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· Οὐ μή σε ἀποστείλω, ἐὰν μή με εὐλογήσῃς. Εἶπε δὲ αὐτῷ· Τί τὸ ὅνομά σου; Ὁ δὲ εἶπεν· Ἰακώβ· εἶπε δὲ αὐτῷ· Οὐ κληθήσεται ἔτι τὸ ὅνομά σου Ἰακὼβ, ἀλλʼ Ἰσραὴλ ἕσται τὸ ὄνομά σου, ὅτι ἐνίσχυσας μετὰ Θεοῦ, καὶ μετὰ ἀνθρώπων δυνατός Ἠρώτησε δὲ Ἰακὼβ, καὶ εἶπεν· Ἀνάγγειλόν μοι τὸ ὅνομά σου· καὶ εἶπεν· Ἵνα τί τοῦτο ἐρωτᾶς τὸ ὄνομά μου; Καὶ εὐλόγησεν αὐτὸν ἐκεῖ. Καὶ ἐκάλεσεν Ἰακὼβ τὸ ὅνομα τοῦ τόπου ἐκείνου Εἶδος Θεοῦ· Εἶδον γὰρ Θεὸν πρόσωπον πρὸς πρόσωπον, καὶ ἕσώθη μου ἡ ψυχή. Ἀνέτειλε δὲ ὁ ἥλιος, ἡνίκα παρῆλθε τὸ εἶδος τοῦ Θεοῦ. Ὅτι δὲ καὶ ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας προφητεύει, δῆλον ἐκ τούτων· « Ἐκάλεσε δὲ Ἰακὼβ τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ καὶ εἶπε· Συνάχθητε, ἵνα ἀπαγγείλω ὑμῖν τί ἀποβήσεται ὑμῖν ἐπʼ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν· ἀθροίσθητε καὶ ἀκούσατε υἱοὶ Ἰακὼβ, ἀκούσατε Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ πατρὸς ὑμῶν· Ῥουβὶμ πρωτότοκός μου, σὺ ἰσχύς μου, καὶ ἀρχὴ τέκνων μου, σκληρὸς φέρεσθαι καὶ σκληρὸς αὐθάδης· ἐξύβρισας, ὡς ὕδωρ μὴ ἐκζέσῃς· ἀνέβης γὰρ ἐπὶ τὴν κοίτην τοῦ πατρός σου· τότε ἐμίανας τὴν στρωμνὴν, οὗ ἀνέδης. » Ὁμοίως δὲ καὶ πρὸς τοὺς λοιποὺς αἱ εὐλογίαι προφητεῖαι οὖσαι ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας εἵρηνται. Οὐδὲν τοίνυν θαυμαστὸν καὶ τὸν Δανιὴλ, ὁτὲ μὲν ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας λελαληκέναι τὸν κατὰ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων ἕλεγχον, ὁτὲ δὲ ἐνυπνίοις, ὡς καὶ σὺ φὴς, ἢ ὁράσει τε, καὶ ἅλλοτε γεγονέναι αὐτῷ ἀγγέλου ἐπιφάνειαν. ### English translation (Claude) Besides this, you said that Daniel is said by this writing to have cried out, seized by the Spirit, that the sentence was unjust, whereas the writing acknowledged to be his presents him as prophesying in another way, namely by visions and dreams and the appearance of an angel, but nowhere by prophetic inspiration. But you seem to me not to have quite observed the words that “God spoke of old to the fathers by the prophets in many portions and in many ways,” not only to all of them together but also to each one individually. If you look carefully, you will find that the same saints had divine dreams, angelic appearances, and inspirations. For the present it is enough to use as testimony what is written about Jacob. About divine dreams he relates this: “And it came to pass, when the sheep conceived, I saw them with my eyes in sleep, and look, the he-goats and the rams were mounting the sheep and the goats, white-spotted and speckled and ash-colored, sprinkled. And the angel of God said to me in sleep, Jacob. And I said, What is it? And he said, Look up with your eyes and see the he-goats and the rams mounting the sheep and the goats, white-spotted and speckled and ash-colored, sprinkled; for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you. I am the God who appeared to you in the place of God, where you anointed a pillar to me and vowed a vow to me. Now then, arise and go out of this land, and go away to the land of your birth.” About an appearance while awake, which is greater, this is said of him: “Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until morning. And he saw that he could not prevail against him, and he touched the broad part of his thigh, and the broad part of Jacob’s thigh grew numb while he wrestled with him. And he said to him, Let me go, for the dawn has come up. But he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he said to him, Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name, for you have prevailed with God and are mighty with men. And Jacob asked and said, Tell me your name. And he said, Why do you ask my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place Form of God, for I have seen God face to face, and my life was preserved. And the sun rose as the form of God passed by.” That he also prophesied by inspiration is clear from these words: “Jacob called his sons and said, Gather together, that I may tell you what will befall you in the last days. Assemble and hear, sons of Jacob; hear Israel your father. Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the beginning of my children, hard to bear and hard, self-willed. You ran riot; do not boil over like water; for you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled the couch where you went up.” Likewise the blessings to the rest, being prophecies, were spoken by inspiration. It is no wonder, then, that Daniel too at one time spoke by inspiration the conviction of the elders, and at another by dreams, as you yourself say, or by a vision, and that at other times an angel appeared to him. ### Scripture references - Heb 1:1: quotation, high confidence - Gen 31:10–13: quotation, high confidence - Gen 32:24–31: quotation, high confidence - Gen 49:1–4: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 45 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - Daniel is “stirred up” by the Holy Spirit in Susanna 45 (Theodotion). ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 12 (PG 11:68–73; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-12). ## Letter to Africanus 13 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-13 - Source: PG 11:73–76 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen answers the charge that Daniel’s cross-examination is farcical by comparing it with Solomon’s judgment between the two women. ### Greek text Τά γε μὴν ἄλλα σου ἐπαπορήματα ἐδόκει μοι ἀσεμνότερον εἰρῆσθαι, καὶ οὐκ ἔχεσθαι τῆς πρεπούσης σοι εὐλαβείας· οὐ χεῖρον δὲ θεῖναι τὸ αὐταῖς λέξεσιν ὑπὸ σοῦ γεγραμμένον οὕτως· « Ἔπειτα μετὰ τὸ θαυμασίως πως οὕτως ἀποφθέγξασθαι, καὶ παραδοξότατά πως αὐτοὺς ἀπελέγχει, ὡς οὐδὲ Φιλιστίων ὁ μἴμος· οὐ γὰρ ἐξήρκει ἡ διὰ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἐπίπληξις, ἀλλʼ ἰδίᾳ διαστήσας ἑκάτερον αὐτῶν, ἐρωτᾷ ποῦ θεάσαιτο αὐτὴν μοιχωμένην. Ὡς δὲ ὁ μὲν ὑπὸ πρῖνον ἕφασκεν, ἀποκρίνεται πρίσειν αὐτὸν τὸν ἅγγελον· τῷ δὲ ὑπὸ σχῖνον εἰρηκότι, σχισθῆναι παραπλησίως ἀπειλεῖ. » Ὥρα γὰρ παραβάλλειν ἄλλο τούτῳ παραπλήσιον εἰρημένον ἐν τῇ τρίτῃ τῶν Βασιλειῶν, ὅπερ καὶ αὐτὸς ὁμολογήσεις ὑγιῶς ἀναγεγράφθαι, τῷ Φιλιστίωνος μίμῳ. Ἔχει δὲ οὕτως ἡ ἀπὸ τῶν Βασιλειῶν λέξις· « Τότε ὤφθησαν δύο γυναῖκες πόρναι τῷ βασιλεῖ, καὶ ἔστησαν ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ. Καὶ εἶπεν ἡ γυνὴ μία· Ἐν ἐμοὶ, κύριέ μου. Ἐγὼ καὶ ἡ γυνὴ αὕτη οἰκοῦμεν ἐν οἵκῳ ἑνὶ, καὶ ἐτέκομεν ἐν τῷ οἵκῳ. Καὶ ἐγενήθη ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ τρίτῃ τεκούσης μου, καὶ ἔτεκε καὶ ἡ γυνὴ αὕτη. Καὶ ἡμεῖς κατὰ τὸ αὐτό. Οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲ εἷς ἐν τῷ οἴκῳ ἡμῶν παρὲξ ἀμφοτέρων ἡμῶν ἐν τῷ οἵκῳ. Καὶ ἀπέθανεν ὁ υἱὸς τῆς γυναικὸς ταύτης τὴν νύκτα, ὡς ἐπεκοιμήθη ἐπʼ αὐτόν. Καὶ ἀνέστη μέσης τῆς νυκτός· καὶ ἔλαβε τὸν υἱόν μου ἐκ τῶν ἀγκαλῶν μου· καὶ ἡ δούλη σου ὕπνουν. Καὶ ἐκοίμισεν αὐτὸν ἐν τῷ κόλπῳ αὐτῆς, καὶ τὸν υἱὸν αὐτῆς τὸν τεθνεῶτα ἐκοίμισεν ἐν τῷ κόλπῳʼ μου. Καὶ ἀνέστην τὸ πρωῒ θηλάσαι τὸν υἱόν μου· κἀκεῖνος ἦν τεθνηκώς. Καὶ ἰδοὺ κατενόησα αὐτὸν τὸ πρωΐ, καὶ ἰδοὺ οὐκ ἦν ὁ υἱός μου ὅν ἕτεκον. Καὶ εἶπεν ἡ γυνὴ ἡ ἑτέρα· Οὐχί· ἀλλʼ ὁ υἱός σου ἐστὶν ὁ νεκρὸς, ὁ υἱὸς δὲ ὁ ἐμὸς ὁ ζῶν. Ἡ δὲ. ἄλλη καὶ αὐτὴ ἔλεγεν· Οὐχὶ, ἀλλʼ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ζῶν· ὁ δὲ υἱός σου ὁ τεθνηκώς. Καὶ ἐλάλησαν ἐνώπιον τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς αὐταῖς· Σὺ λέγεις· Οὗτός μου ὁ υἱὸς ὁ ζῶν, καὶ ὁ υἱὸς ταύτης ὁ τεθνηκώς. Καὶ σὺ λέγεις Οὐχὶ, ἀλλʼ ὁ υἱός μου ὁ ζῶν· ὁ δὲ υἱός σου ὁ τεθνηκώς. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεύς· Λάβετέ μοι μάχαιραν. Καὶ προσήνεγκαν τὴν μάχαιραν ἐνώπιον τοῦ βασιλέως. Καὶ εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεύς· Διέλετε τὸ παιδίον τὸ ζῶν εἰς δύο, καὶ δότε τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ ταύτῃ, τὸ ἥμισυ αὐτοῦ ταύτῃ. Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη ἡ γυνὴ ἦς ὁ υἱὸς ἦν ὁ ζῶν πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, ὅτι ἐταράχθη ἡ μήτρα αὐτῆς ἐν τῷ υἱῷ αὐτῆς, καὶ εἶπεν· Ἐν ἐμοὶ, Κύριε· δότε αὐτῇ τὸ παιδίον τὸ ζῶν, καὶ θανάτῳ μὴ θανατώσητε αὐτό. Καὶ αὕτη εἶπε· Μήτε ἐμοὶ, μήτε αὐτῇ ἕστω· διέλετε. Καὶ ἀπεκρίθη ὁ βασιλεὺς, καὶ εἶπε· Δότε τὸ παιδίον τῇ εἰπούσῃ Δότε αὐτῇ τοῦτο, καὶ θανάτῳ μὴ θανατώσητε αὐτό· αὕτη γὰρ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ. Καὶ ἤκουσε πᾶς Ἰσραὴλ τὸ κρῖμα ὅ ἔκρινεν ὁ βασιλεὺς, καὶ ἐφοβήθησαν ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ βασιλέως, ὅτι εἶδον, ὅτι φρόνησις Θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ τοῦ ποιεῖν δικαίωμα. » Εἵπερ γὰρ χρὴ περὶ τῶν φερομένων ἐν ταῖς Ἐκκλησίαις ἀποφαίνεσθαι χλευαστικῶς, μᾶλλον τὴν περὶ τῶν δύο ἑταιρῶν ἱστορίαν τῷ Φιλιστίωνος μίμῳ, ἢ τὴν περὶ τῆς σεμνῆς Σωσάννης ὁμοιῶσαι ἐχρῆν. Καὶ ὥσπερ οὐκ ἤρκει πρὸς πειθὼ τοῦ λαοῦ τὸ εἰπεῖν Σολομῶντα· « Δότε τῇδε τὸ ζῶν παιδίον· αὕτη γάρ ἐστιν ἡ μήτηρ αὐτοῦ· » οὕτως οὐκ ἤρκει ἡ πρὸς τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους ἐπίπληξις τοῦ Δανιὴλ, μὴ προσπαραλαμβανομένου τοῦ ἐκ στόματος αὐτῶν ἐλέγχου· εἰπόντων μὲν ὑπό τι δένδρον αὐτὴν ἑωρακέναι κοιμωμένην μετὰ τοῦ νεανίσκου, μὴ μὴν συμφωνησάντων περὶ τοῦ τί δένδρον ἦν. Καὶ ἐπείπερ ὡς καταλαβὼν ἔφασκες ἐξ ἐπιπνοίας τὸν Δανιὴλ κεκρικέναι τὰ περὶ τοὺς πρεσβυτέρους, τάχα μὲν οὕτως ἐλέγχοντα, τάχα δὲ ἑτέρως, πρόσχες καὶ ταῦτα παραπλήσια δοκεῖ μοι εἶναι τὰ κατὰ τὸν Δανιὴλ τῇ κρίσει τοῦ Σολομῶντος· περὶ οὗ μαρτυρεῖ ἡ Γραφὴ, ὅτι εἶδεν ὁ λαὸς, ὅτι φρόνησις Θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ τοῦ ποιεῖν δικαίωμα. Τοῦτο ἄν δύναιτο λέγεσθαι καὶ περὶ τοῦ Δανιήλ· ὅτι φρονήσεως οὕσης ἐν αὐτῷ τοῦ ποιεῖν δικαίωμα, τὰ ἀναγεγραμμένα περὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων. ### English translation (Claude) Your other objections seemed to me to be said rather irreverently, and not to keep the reverence that befits you. It is not a bad idea to set down what you wrote in your very words: “Then, after this marvellous outburst, he convicts them in a most extraordinary way, such as not even Philistion the mime-writer would use; for the rebuke through the Spirit was not enough, but setting each of them apart he asks where he had seen her committing adultery. And when one said ‘under a holm oak (prinos),’ he answers that the angel will saw him (prisein); and he threatens the one who said ‘under a mastic tree (schinos)’ with being split (schisthēnai) in the same way.” It is time, then, to compare with Philistion’s mime another passage much like this, told in the Third Book of Kingdoms, which you yourself will admit to be soundly recorded. The passage from Kingdoms runs thus: “Then two women who were prostitutes appeared before the king and stood before him. And the one woman said, Hear me, my lord. I and this woman live in one house, and we gave birth in the house. And on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were together; there is no one in our house except the two of us in the house. And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. And she rose in the middle of the night and took my son from my arms, while your servant was sleeping. And she laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead son in my bosom. And I rose in the morning to nurse my son, and he was dead. And look, I looked at him closely in the morning, and look, it was not my son whom I bore. And the other woman said, No, the dead one is your son, and the living one is mine. And the other likewise said, No, the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son. And they spoke before the king, and the king said to them, You say, This is my son, the living one, and this woman’s son is the dead one; and you say, No, the living one is my son, and your son is the dead one. And the king said, Bring me a sword. And they brought the sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half of it to this one and half of it to that one. And the woman whose son was the living one answered the king, for her womb was stirred over her son, and said, Hear me, my lord: give her the living child, and by no means put it to death. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor hers; divide it. And the king answered and said, Give the child to the one who said, Give her this child, and by no means put it to death; for she is its mother. And all Israel heard the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared before the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.” For if we must pass mocking verdicts on what is read in the churches, one ought rather to have likened the story of the two prostitutes to Philistion’s mime than that of the chaste Susanna. And just as it was not enough to persuade the people for Solomon to say, “Give the living child to this woman, for she is its mother,” so Daniel’s rebuke of the elders was not enough without the further conviction from their own mouths, when they said they had seen her lying with the young man under some tree but did not agree about what tree it was. And since you said, as one who had understood, that Daniel judged the matter of the elders by inspiration (perhaps convicting them in this way, perhaps otherwise), notice this too: what concerns Daniel seems to me similar to the judgment of Solomon, of whom Scripture testifies that the people saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice. This could be said of Daniel too: that, since the wisdom to do justice was in him, the things recorded about the elders took place. ### Scripture references - 1 Kgs 3:16–28: quotation, high confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 51–59 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The ending of the last sentence is elliptical in the Greek; the verb is supplied by sense. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 13 (PG 11:73–76; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-13). ## Letter to Africanus 14 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-14 - Source: PG 11:76–80 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen begins a further remark on wordplay in the Scriptures. ### Greek text Καὶ τοῦτο δὲ μικροῦ δεῖν ἔλαθέ με, ἀναγκαῖον παρατεθῆναι περὶ τοῦ πρῖνον-πρίσειν καὶ σχῖνον-σχίσειν· ὅτι καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἡμετέραις Γραφαῖς κεῖνταί τινες οἱονεὶ ἐτυμολογίαι αἵτινες παρὰ μὲν ### English translation (Claude) And this too almost escaped me, which must be set down about prinos and prisein, schinos and schisein: that in our Scriptures also there are certain etymologies, so to speak, which in [Hebrew] … ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 54–59 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The digital text breaks off here; the rest of the argument (wordplay that works in Hebrew but not in Greek, such as “woman” from “man” in Gen 2:23, and the likelihood that the translators of Susanna found Greek equivalents) is missing from it. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 14 (PG 11:76–80; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-14). ## Letter to Africanus 15 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-15 - Source: PG 11:80–81 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen answers that some captives, like Tobit, Achiacharus, Mordecai, and Nehemiah, were wealthy and influential, so Joakim’s house and garden are not implausible. ### Greek text Πρὸς τούτοις παπορεῖς αὐταῖς λέξεσι· « Πῶς αἰχμάλωτοι ὄντες ἐν τῇ Βαβυλῶνι, ἠστραγαλωμένοι, καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἄταφοι ῥιπτούμενοι, ὡς ἐν τῇ προτέρᾳ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ ἱστόρηται, τῶν παίδων αὐτοῖς ἀποσπωμένων εἰς εὐνουχισμὸν, καὶ τῶν θυγατέρων εἰς παλλακὰς, ὡς προπεφήτευτο, οἵδε περὶ θανάτου ἔκρινον, καὶ ταῦτα τῇ τοῦ βασιλέως αὐτῶν γενομένῃ γυναικὶ Ἰωακεὶμ, ὅν σύνθρονον πεποίητο ὁ Βαβυλώνιος βασιλεύς; Εἰ δὲ οὐχ οὗτος, ἄλλος δὲ τοῦ λαοῦ Ἰωακείμ· πόθεν τοιαύτη κατάλυσις αἰχμαλώτῳ περιῆν, καὶ παράδεισος ἀμφιλαφὴς ἦν; πόθεν δὲ λαβὼν ἔλεγες τό· Ἠστρογαλωμένοι καὶ ἐν ταῖς πλατείαις ἄταφοι ῥιπτούμενοι· ἢ, ὅσον ἐπʼ ἐμῇ γνώσει, ἀπὸ τοῦ Τωβία; περὶ οὗ ἡμᾶς ἐχρῆν ἐγνωκέναι, ὅτι Ἑβραῖοι τῷ Τωβίᾳ οὐ χρῶνται, οὐδὲ τῇ Ἰουδήθ· οὐδὲ γὰρ ἔχουσιν αὐτὰ καὶ ἐν ἀποκρύφοις ἑβραϊστί· ὡς ἀπʼ αὐτῶν μαθόντες ἐγνώκαμεν. Ἀλλʼ ἐπεὶ χρῶνται τῷ Τωβίᾳ αἱ Ἐκκλησίαι, ἰστέον, ὅτι καὶ ἐν τῇ αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τινὲς τῶν αἰχμαλώτων ἐπλούτουν, καὶ εὖ ἔπραττον. Αὐτὸς δὲ ὁ Τωβίας φησί· « Καθότι ἐμεμνήμην τοῦ Θεου ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ ψυχῇ μου, καὶ ἔδωκεν ὁ Ὕψιστος χάριν καὶ μορφὴν ἐνώπιον Νεμεσσάρου, καὶ ἤμην αὐτοῦ ἀγοραστής· καὶ ἐπορευόμην εἰς τὴν Μηδίαν, καὶ παρεθέμην Γαβαήλῳ τῷ ἀδελφῷ Γαβρία ἐν Ῥἄγοις τῆς Μηδίας ἀργυρίου τάλαντα δέκα.» Καὶ ἐπιφέρει ὡς πλούσιος τό· « Ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις Νεμεσσάρου ἐλεημοσύνας πολλὰς ἐποίησα τοῖς ἀδελφοῖς μου. Τοὺς ἄρτους μου ἐδίδουν πεινῶσι καὶ ἱμάτια τοῖς γυμνοῖς· καὶ εἵ τινα ἐκ τοῦ γένους ἑώρων τεθνηκότα καὶ ἐῤῥιμμένον ὀπίσω τοῦ τείχους Νινευῒ, ἔθαπτον αὐτόν· καὶ εἴ τινα ἀπέκτεινε Σεναχηρεὶμ βασιλεὺς, ὅτε ἦλθε φεύγων ἐκ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, ἕθαψα αὐτοὺς κλέπτων· πολλοὺς γὰρ ἐπέκτεινεν ἐν τῷ θυμῷ αὐτοῦ.» Καὶ κατανόει εἴ γε μὴ πολὺν πλοῦτον ἐμφαίνει καὶ πολλὴν περιουσίαν ὁ κατάλογος ὁ τοσοῦτος τῶν εὐποιῶν τοῦ Τωβία· καὶ μάλιστα, ὅτι ἐπιφέρει λέγων τό· « Ἐπιγνοὺς, ὅτι ζητοῦμαι ἀποθανεῖν, φοβηθεὶς ἀνεχώρησα, καὶ διηρπάγη πάντα τὰ ὑπάρχοντά μου. » Ἀλλὰ καὶ ἕτερος αἰχμάλωτος Δαχιάχαρος ὁ τοῦ Ἀνανιὴλ υἱὸς ἀδελφοῦ Τωβία ἐπὶ πᾶσαν κατεστάθη τὴν λογιστείαν τῆς βασιλείας τοῦ βασιλέως Ἀχερδόνος, καὶ ἐπὶ πᾶσαν τὴν διοίκησιν· καὶ λέγεται, « ὅτι ἦν ὁ Δαχιάχαρος οἰνοχόος, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ δακτυλίου, καὶ διοικητὴς, καὶ ἐκλογιστής. » Καὶ ὁ Μαρδοχαῖος δὲ περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν διέτριβε τοῦ βασιλέως, καὶ τοσαύτην εἶχε παῤρησίαν πρὸς αὐτὸν, ὥστε καὶ ἐν εὐεργέταις ἀναγεγράφθαι τοῦ Ἀρταξέρξου. Ἔτι δὲ καὶ ἐν τῷ Ἔσδρᾳ· Νεεμίας οἰνοχόος τοῦ βασιλέως καὶ εὐνοῦχος αὐτοῦ, Ἐβραῖος τῷ γένει, ἠτήσατο τὰ περὶ τῆς οἰκοδομῆς τοῦ ναοῦ, καὶ ἔτυχεν· ὥστε μετὰ πλειόνων ἐπιτραπῆναι ἀπελθεῖν ἀνορθῶσαι τὸν ναόν. Τί οὖν θαυμαστὸν τὸ, παράδεισον, καὶ οἰκίαν, καὶ κτῆμα γεγονέναι τινὸς Ἰωακεὶμ, εἴτε πολυτελὴς εἴτε καὶ μετρία ἦν; Οὐ γὰρ σαφῶς δηλοῦται ἀπὸ τῆς Γραφῆς τὸ τοιοῦτον. ### English translation (Claude) Besides this, you raise the difficulty in these very words: “How could they, being captives in Babylon, gambled away at dice and thrown out unburied in the streets, as is related of the former captivity of Israel, their sons torn away to be made eunuchs and their daughters to be concubines, as had been prophesied, sit in judgment on capital cases, and that against the wife of their own king Joakim, whom the Babylonian king had made to share his throne? And if it was not this man but another Joakim of the people, where did a captive have such a residence, and a spacious garden?” Where did you get the words “gambled away at dice and thrown out unburied in the streets”? Was it, as far as I know, from Tobit? About this we ought to know that the Hebrews do not use Tobit, nor Judith; for they do not have them even among the apocrypha in Hebrew, as we have learned from them themselves. But since the churches use Tobit, it should be known that even in the captivity some of the captives were rich and prospered. Tobit himself says: “Because I remembered God with all my soul, the Most High gave me favor and good appearance before Enemessar, and I was his buyer; and I went into Media and deposited ten talents of silver with Gabael, the brother of Gabrias, at Rages in Media.” And he adds, as a rich man: “In the days of Enemessar I gave many alms to my brothers. I gave my bread to the hungry and clothing to the naked; and if I saw any of my people dead and thrown out behind the wall of Nineveh, I buried him; and if King Sennacherib killed any, when he came fleeing from Judea, I buried them secretly; for he killed many in his anger.” And consider whether so long a list of Tobit’s good deeds does not show great wealth and abundant property, especially since he adds: “Learning that I was being sought to be put to death, I withdrew in fear, and all my possessions were seized.” Another captive too, Achiacharus son of Ananiel, the brother of Tobit, was appointed over all the accounts of the kingdom of King Acherdon and over all the administration; and it is said that “Achiacharus was cupbearer, keeper of the signet, administrator, and accountant.” Mordecai too spent his time at the king’s court and had such freedom of speech with him that he was recorded among the benefactors of Artaxerxes. Further, in Ezra, Nehemiah, the king’s cupbearer and his eunuch, a Hebrew by race, made a request about the building of the temple and obtained it, so that he was permitted to go with many others and restore the temple. What wonder, then, that a certain Joakim had a garden, a house, and an estate, whether it was costly or modest? For Scripture does not show this clearly. ### Scripture references - Esth 6:1–3: allusion, medium confidence - Neh 2:1–8: allusion, high confidence - Isa 39:7: allusion, low confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Tob 1:12–14 (Tobit): quotation, high confidence - Tob 1:16–18 (Tobit): quotation, high confidence - Tob 1:19–20 (Tobit): quotation, high confidence - Tob 1:21–22 (Tobit): allusion, high confidence - Jdt (Judith): allusion, high confidence - Sus 1–4 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Gambled away at dice” renders ἠστραγαλωμένοι (from knucklebones used as dice). - Tobit 1:12–14, 1:16–18, 1:19–20, 1:21–22. - “Nehemiah … in Ezra”: Nehemiah formed part of the Greek book of Ezra (2 Esdras). ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 15 (PG 11:80–81; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/1/#p-15). ## Letter to Africanus 16 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/16/#p-16 - Source: PG 11:81–84 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen answers that captive peoples could keep their own courts, as the Jews under Rome did under their ethnarch. ### Greek text Ἀλλὰ φῄς· « Πῶς περὶ θανάτου ἔκρινον ἐν αἰχμαλωσίᾳ τυγχάνοντες;» οὐκ οἶδα πόθεν ἀμφιβάλλων τὸ βασιλέως εἶναι γυναῖκα, διὰ τὴν ὁμωνυμίαν τοῦ Ἰωακεὶμ, τὴν Σωσάνναν. Λεκτέον δʼ, ὅτι οὐδὲν παράδοξον, μεγάλων ἐθνῶν ὑποχειρίων γενομένων, πρὸς βασιλέως συγκεχωρῆσθαι τοῖς οἰκείοις νόμοις χρῆσθαι τοὺς αἰχμαλώτους καὶ τοῖς δικαστηρίοις. Καὶ νῦν γοῦν Ῥωμαίων βασιλευόντων, καὶ Ἰουδαίων τὸ δίδραχμον αὐτοῖς τελούντων, ὅσα συγχωροῦντος Καίσαρος ὁ ἐθνάρχης παρʼ αὐτοῖς δύναται, ὡς μηδὲν διαφέρειν βασιλεύοντος τοῦ ἔθνους, ἵσμεν οἱ πεπειραμένοι. Γίνεται δὲ καὶ κριτήρια λεληθότως κατὰ τὸν νόμον, καὶ καταδικάζονταί τινες τὴν ἐπὶ τῷ θανάτῳ· οὕτε μετὰ τῆς πάντη εἰς τοῦτο παῤῥησίας, οὕτε μετὰ τοῦ λανθάνειν τὸν βασιλεύοντα· καὶ τοῦτο ἐν τῇ χώρᾳ τοῦ ἔθνους πολὺν διατρίψαντες χρόνον μεμαθήκαμεν καὶ πεπληροφορήμεθα. Καί τοι γε ὑπὸ Ῥωμαίοις δύο φυλαὶ μόναι εἶναι ἱστόρηνται, ἥ τε Ἰούδα καὶ Βενιαμίν· ἔστω δὲ καὶ Λευῖτική. Ὁ δὲ, παρὰ τὸν λαὸν Ἰούδα, Ἰσραὴλ, δέκα ἦσαν φυλαί· καὶ εἰκὸς, ἀρκεσθέντας τοὺς Ἀσσυρίους τῷ ὑποχειρίους αὐτοὺς ἕχειν. ἐπιτετραφέναι αὐτοῖς τὰ οἰκεῖα δικαστήρια. ### English translation (Claude) But you say, “How could they judge capital cases while they were in captivity?” — doubting, I know not on what ground, that Susanna was the wife of a king, because of the identity of name with Joakim. It must be said that there is nothing strange in it if, when great nations became subjects, the king allowed the captives to use their own laws and courts. Even now, at any rate, under Roman rule, with the Jews paying them the didrachm, we who have experience of it know how much power the ethnarch has among them by Caesar’s leave, so that he differs in nothing from a king of the nation. Trials are held secretly according to the Law, and some are condemned to death, neither with complete freedom to do so, nor without the ruler’s knowledge; and we learned this and were fully assured of it when we spent a long time in the country of that people. And yet under the Romans only two tribes are said to exist, Judah and Benjamin (let the Levitical be added too); whereas Israel, besides the people of Judah, was ten tribes. And it is likely that the Assyrians, content to hold them as subjects, entrusted them with their own courts. ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - The ethnarch is the Jewish patriarch in Palestine in Origen’s time. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 16 (PG 11:81–84; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/16/#p-16). ## Letter to Africanus 17 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/16/#p-17 - Source: PG 11:84–85 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen answers that prophets often repeat one another’s words, as Isaiah and Micah, or Chronicles and the Psalms, show. ### Greek text Εὗρόν σου ἐν τῇ ἐπιστολῇ καὶ τοῦτο αὐταῖς λέξεσι τό· « Ἐπὶ δὲ πᾶσι, τοσούτων προωδοιπορηκότων προφητῶν, τῶν τε ἐξῆς οὐδεὶς ἕτερος ἑτέρου κέχρηται ῥητῷ νοήματι· οὐ γὰρ ἐπτώχευσεν ὁ λόγος αὐτῶν ἀληθὴς ὤν· οὑτοσὶ δὲ, ἐκείνων θατέρῳ ἐπαπειλῶν ὑπομιμνήσκει σε λέγοντος τοῦ Κυρίου· Ἀθῶον καὶ δίκαιον οὐκ ἀποκτενεῖς· » καὶ ἐθαύμασα, πῶς πολλὰς διατριβὰς ἕχων ἐν ταῖς ἐξετάσεσι καὶ μελέταις τῆς Γραφῆς, οὐ τετήρηκας συγχρωμένους προφήτας προφητῶν λόγοις σχεδὸν αὐταῖς λέξεσι. Τίς γὰρ οὐκ οἶδε καὶ τῶν πολλῶν πιστῶν κείμενον ἐν τῷ Ἡσαΐᾳ τό· « Ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις ἐμφανὲς τὸ ὅρος Κυρίου· καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπʼ ἄκρων τῶν ὀρέων, καὶ ὑψωθήσεται ὑπεράνω τῶν βουνῶν, καὶ ἥξουσιν ἐπʼ αὐτὸ πάντα τὰ ἕθνη· καὶ πορεύσονται ἕθνη πολλὰ, καὶ ἐροῦσι· Δεῦτε, ἀναβῶμεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ εἰς τὸν οἷκον τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἰακώβ· καὶ ἀναγγελεῖ ἡμῖν τὴν ὁδὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ πορευσόμεθα ἐν αὐτῇ· ἐκ γὰρ Σιὼν ἐξελεύσεται νόμος, καὶ λόγος Κυρίου ἐν Ἱερουσαλήμ. Καὶ κρινεῖ ἀνὰ μέσον τῶν ἐθνῶν, καὶ κρινεῖ λαὸν πολύν· καὶ συγκόψουσι τὰς μαχαίρας αὐτῶν εἰς ἄροτρα, καὶ τὰς ζιβύνας αὐτῶν εἰς δρέπανα· καὶ οὐ λήψεται ἕθνος ἐπʼ ἕθνος μάχαιραν· καὶ οὐ μὴ μάθωσιν ἕτι πολεμεῖν. » Τὸ δὲ παραπλήσιον τούτοις ὅλοις, καὶ τῇ αὐτῇ λέξει, ἐν τῷ Μιχαίᾳ οὕτως ἐστὶ γεγραμμένον· « Καὶ ἕσται ἐπʼ ἐσχάτων τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐμφανὲς τὸ ὅρος τοῦ Κυρίου, ἕτοιμον ἐπὶ τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων, καὶ μετεωρισθήσεται ὑπεράνω τῶν βουνῶν· καὶ σπεύσουσιν ἐπʼ αὐτῷ λαοὶ, καὶ πορεύσονται ἕθνη πολλὰ, καὶ ἐροῦσι· Δεῦτε, ἀναβῶμεν εἰς τὸ ὅρος τοῦ Κυρίου, καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ Θεοῦ Ἰακὼβ, καὶ δείξουσιν ἡμῖν τὴν ὀδὸν αὐτοῦ· καὶ πορευσόμεθα ἐν ταῖς τρίβοις αὐτοῦ· ὅτι ἐκ Σιὼν ἐξελεύσεται νόμος, καὶ λόγος Κυρίου ἐξ Ἱερουσαλήμ. Καὶ κρινεῖ ἀνὰ μέσον λαῶν πολλῶν, καὶ ἐλέγξει ἐπὶ ἕθνη ἰσχυρὰ ἕως εἰς μακρὰν, καὶ κατακόψουσι τὰς μαχαίρας αὐτῶν εἰς ἄροτρα, καὶ τὰς ζιβύνας αὐτῶν εἰς δρέπανα· καὶ οὐκέτι μὴ ἄρῃ ἕθνος ἐπʼ ἕθνος ῥομφαίαν, καὶ οὐκέτι μὴ μάθωσι πολεμεῖν.» Ἔτι δὲ ἐν τῇ πρώτῃ τῶν Παραλειπομένων ὁ τεταγμένος ἐν χειρὶ Ἀσὰφ, καὶ τῶν ἀδελφῶν αὐτοῦ ψαλμὸς, τοῦ αἰνεῖν τὸν Κύριον, οὗ ἡ ἀρχή· « Ἐξομολογεῖσθε καὶ ἐπικαλεῖσθε αὐτὸν ἐν ὀνόματι αὐτοῦ, » ἐν μὲν τοῖς πλείστοις κατὰ τὴν ἀρχὴν ἰσοδυναμεῖ τῷ ρδ΄ ψαλμῷ, ἕως τοῦ· « Καὶ ἐν τοῖς προφήταις μου μὴ πονηρεύεσθε· » μετὰ δὲ τοῦτο τῷ Ϟε΄ ἀπὸ τῆς ἀρχῆς αὐτοῦ ἐγγύς πως ἐχούσης τό· « Ἄσατε τῷ Κυρίῳ πᾶσα ἡ γῆ » ἕως τοῦ· « Ὅτι ἕρχεται κρῖναι τὴν γῆν. » Ἐπεὶ δὲ ἦν τὸ παραθέσθαι αὐτὰς τὰς λέξεις πολὺ, διὰ βραχέων πρὸς τὸ προκείμενον ταῦτα εἰρήκαμεν. Εὑρήσεις δὲ καὶ περὶ τοῦ μὴ αἵρειν βάσταγμα ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῶν Σαββάτων οὐ μόνον παρὰ Μωϋσεῖ γεγραμμένον, ἀλλὰ καὶ ἐν Ἱερεμίᾳ. Καὶ περὶ τοῦ Πάσχα καὶ νόμων ἱερατικῶν εὑρήσεις παρά τε Μωῦσεῖ καὶ ἐν τοῖς τελευταίοις τοῦ Ἰεζεκιήλ. Καὶ αὐτὰς δʼ ἂν παρεθέμην τὰς λέξεις, καὶ ἅλλας πλείονας, εἰ μὴ ἑώρων ὑπὸ τῆς ὀλιγότητος τῶν ἐν Νικομηδείᾳ ἡμερῶν ἡμῶν ἀποκλειόμενον τὸν χρόνον τῆς πρὸς σὲ γραφῆς. ### English translation (Claude) I found this too in your letter, in these very words: “Besides all this, of so many prophets who went before, and of those who followed, none used another’s thought word for word; for their speech was not poor, being true. But this one, threatening one of them, reminds him of the Lord’s saying: You shall not put to death the innocent and the righteous.” And I wondered how you, who spend so much time in the examination and study of Scripture, have not noticed that prophets use the words of prophets almost in the very same terms. For who, even of the ordinary believers, does not know the passage in Isaiah: “It shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord will be manifest, and the house of God on the tops of the mountains, and it will be lifted up above the hills, and all the nations will come to it; and many nations will go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will declare to us his way, and we will walk in it. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord in Jerusalem. And he will judge between the nations and judge many peoples; and they will beat their swords into plows and their spears into sickles; and nation will not take up sword against nation, and they will no longer learn war”? And something similar to this in every respect, and in the same wording, is written in Micah thus: “And it shall be in the last days that the mountain of the Lord will be manifest, made ready on the tops of the mountains, and it will be raised above the hills; and peoples will hasten to it, and many nations will go and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, and they will show us his way, and we will walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he will judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations far away; and they will beat their swords into plows and their spears into sickles; and nation will no longer lift sword against nation, and they will no longer learn to make war.” Further, in the First Book of Chronicles, the psalm put into the hand of Asaph and his brothers for praising the Lord, which begins, “Give thanks and call upon him by his name,” is for the most part equivalent at the beginning to Psalm 104 [105], down to “and do no evil to my prophets”; and after this it is close to Psalm 95 [96], from its beginning, “Sing to the Lord, all the earth,” down to “for he comes to judge the earth.” Since it would be lengthy to quote the words themselves, we have said this briefly for the matter in hand. You will also find the law about not carrying a burden on the Sabbath day written not only in Moses but also in Jeremiah; and about the Passover and the priestly laws you will find it both in Moses and in the last chapters of Ezekiel. I would have set out the very words, and many others, if I had not seen that the time for writing to you was being cut short by the fewness of our days in Nicomedia. ### Scripture references - Exod 23:7: quotation, high confidence - Isa 2:2–4: quotation, high confidence - Mic 4:1–3: quotation, high confidence - 1 Chr 16:8–36: allusion, high confidence - Ps 105:1–15 (104:1-15 LXX): allusion, high confidence - Ps 96:1–13 (95:1-13 LXX): allusion, high confidence - Jer 17:21–22: allusion, high confidence - Ezek 45:21–25: allusion, medium confidence - Ezek 44:15–31: allusion, medium confidence ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus 53 (Susanna): allusion, high confidence - Julius Africanus (Julius Africanus (fragments)): quotation, high confidence ### Translation notes - Africanus refers to Susanna 53, which cites Exod 23:7. - Origen numbers the Psalms as in the Septuagint; Protestant numbering in brackets. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 17 (PG 11:84–85; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/16/#p-17). ## Letter to Africanus 18 - URL: https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/16/#p-18 - Source: PG 11:85 - Translation: Claude (claude-opus-5-5), 2026-09-27 Summary: Origen closes his reply, sending greetings from Ambrose and his household. ### Greek text Πρὸς τούτοις ἕφασκες καὶ τὸν τῆς φράσεως χαρακτῆρα διαλλάσσειν· ὅπερ ἐμοὶ οὐ πάνυ τι ἐφάνη. Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν ἀπελογησάμην· ἦν δʼ ἃν προηγουμένως μετὰ τὰ ἐγκλήματα ἐγκώμιον εἰπεῖν τῆς περὶ Σωσάνναν Γραφῆς ἐπιβαίνοντα ἑκάστῃ λέξει, καὶ δεικνύντα τὸ ἐξαίρετον τῶν νενοημένων· ὅπερ ἰδίᾳ τις τῶν φιλομαθῶς καὶ ἱκανῶς μεμελετηκότων τὰ θεῖα συντάξαι δυνήσεται. Ταῦτα πρὸς τὰ, ὡς φὴς, κρούματα ἀπεκρινάμην, καὶ ἀντιγράφω· εἵθε καὶ παιδεύειν δυναίμην! νυνὶ δὲ οὐ τηλικαῦτα ἐμαυτῷ δίδωμι. Προσαγορεύει σε ὁ συναγωνισάμενος τῇ ὑπαγορεύσει τῆς ἐπιστολῆς, καὶ παρατυχὼν πάσῃ αὐτῇ, ἐν οἷς βεβούληται διορθωσάμενος, κύριός μου καὶ ἀδελφὸς ἱερὸς Ἀμβρόσιος. Ἀσπάζεται δέ σε καὶ ἡ πιστοτάτη σύμβιος αὐτοῦ Μαρκέλλα ἅμα τοῖς τέκνοις, καὶ Ἀνίκητος. Σὺ τὸν καλὸν ἡμῶν πάπαν Ἀπολλινάριον ἅσπασαι, καὶ τοὺς ἀγαπῶντας ἠμᾶς. ### English translation (Claude) Besides this, you said that the character of the style differs; this did not seem so to me at all. So much for my defence. It would have been fitting, after the charges, to deliver an encomium of the writing about Susanna, going through each expression and showing the excellence of its thoughts; this some one of those who have studied divine things with love of learning and competence will be able to compose separately. This is my answer to your “strokes,” as you call them, and I write back; would that I could also teach! But as things are I do not credit myself with so much. My lord and holy brother Ambrose greets you; he helped me with the dictation of the letter, was present for all of it, and corrected it where he wished. His most faithful wife Marcella also greets you, together with their children, and Anicetus. Greet our good father Apollinarius, and those who love us. ### Extrabiblical texts - Sus (Susanna): allusion, high confidence ### Translation notes - “Father” renders πάπας, a title of respect, here probably for a bishop or elder. ### Citation (SBL) Origen, Ep. Afr. 18 (PG 11:85; trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-epistula-africanum/16/#p-18).