Exhortation to Martyrdom 23
Summary: The seven Maccabean brothers, tortured one after another before their mother, encouraged each other with the thought that God was watching.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:20–21
Καὶ οἱ ἑπτὰ δὲ ἐν τοῖς Μακκαβαϊκοῖς ἀναγραφέντες ἀδελφοὶ, οὓς „μάστιξι καὶ νευραῖς“ ᾐκίσατο Ἀντίοχος ἐμμένοντας τῇ θεοσεβείᾳ, δυνήσονται παράδειγμα κάλλιστον εἶναι ῥωμαλέου μαρτυρίου παντὶ λογισαμένῳ ἂν, εἰ μέλλει παιδαρίων εἶναι ἐλάττων, οὐ καθʼ ἕνα μόνον βασάνους ὑπομεινάντων ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ τὴν αἰκίαν τῶν ἀδελφῶν τεθεωρηκέναι παράστημα εὔτονον εὐσεβείας ἐπιδειξαμένων. ἀφʼ ὧν εἷς γενόμενος, ὡς ἡ γραφὴ ὠνόμασε, „προήγορος“ εἶπε πρὸς τὸν τύραννον· „τί μέλλεις ἐρωτᾶν καὶ μανθάνειν; ἕτοιμοι γὰρ ἀποθνῄσκειν ἐσμὲν ἢ παραβαίνειν τοὺς πατρίους νόμους“. τί δὲ δεῖ λέγειν, ὁποῖα ὑπέμειναν τηγάνων καὶ λεβήτων ἐκπυρουμένων, ἵνα ἐν αὐτοῖς βασανισθῶσι προπαθόντες ἕκαστος διάφορα; ὁ γὰρ ὀνομασθεὶς αὐτῶν „προήγορος“ ἐγλωσσοτομήθη πρῶτον· εἶτα περιεσκυθίσθη τὴν κεφαλὴν, καὶ οὕτως ἤνεγκε τὸν περισκυθισμὸν ὡς ἄλλοι τὴν διὰ τὸν θεῖον νόμον περιτομὴν, νομίζων καὶ ἐν τούτῳ πληροῦν λόγον διαθήκης θεοῦ. καὶ οὐκ ἀρκεσθείς γε τούτοις ὁ Ἀντίοχος ἠκρωτηρίασεν αὐτὸν „τῶν λοιπῶν ἀδελφῶν καὶ τῆς μητρὸς συνορώντων“ τῇ θέᾳ κολάζων τοὺς ἀδελφοὺς καὶ τὴν μητέρα καὶ οἰόμενος τὴν πρόθεσιν αὐτῶν διὰ τῶν οὕτω νομιζομένων φοβερῶν κινήσειν. οὕτως δὴ ὁ Ἀντίοχος τούτοις μὴ ἀρκεσθεὶς „ἄχρηστον“ ὡς πρὸς τὴν τοῦ σώματος κατασκευὴν „γενόμενον“ διʼ ὧν πρῶτον ἐκόλασεν „ἐκέλευσε τῇ“ ἐν τοῖς τηγάνοις καὶ τοῖς λέβησι „πυρᾷ προσάγειν ἔμπνουν καὶ τηγανίζειν“ αὐτόν. ὡς δὲ ἡ ἀτμὶς ἀνεδίδοτο ὑπὸ τῆς ὠμότητος τοῦ τυράννου ὀπτωμένων τῶν τοῦ γενναιοτάτου ἀθλητοῦ τῆς εὐσεβείας σαρκῶν, οἱ λοιποὶ „παρεκάλουν ἀλλήλους σὺν τῇ μητρὶ γενναίως τελευτᾶν“ παραμυθούμενοι ἑαυτοὺς τῷ λογισμῷ τοῦ ἐφορᾶν ταῦτα τὸν θεόν· ἤρκει γὰρ αὐτοῖς εἰς ὑπομονὴν ἡ πειθὼ τοῦ παρεῖναι τοῖς ὑπομένουσι τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ὀφθαλμόν· καὶ παρεκάλει αὐτοὺς ὁ ἀγωνοθέτης τῶν τῆς εὐσεβείας ἀθλητῶν, παρακαλούμενος καὶ, ἵνʼ οὕτως ὀνομάσω, εὐφραινόμενος ἐπὶ τοῖς κατεξανισταμένοις τῶν τηλικούτων πόνων. εὔκαιρον δʼ ἂν εἴη καὶ ἡμᾶς ἐν τοιούτοις γενομένους εἰπεῖν τοὺς ἐκείνων λόγους πρὸς ἑαυτοὺς τοῦτον ἔχοντας τὸν τρόπον οὕτως· „κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἐφορᾷ καὶ ταῖς ἀληθείαις ἐφʼ ἡμῖν παρακαλεῖται.“
English · Claude translation
And the seven brothers recorded in the books of the Maccabees, whom Antiochus tortured “with whips and thongs” when they persisted in the worship of God, will be able to be a most beautiful example of vigorous martyrdom to anyone who considers whether he is going to be inferior to boys, who not only endured tortures one by one but also, by having watched the torment of their brothers, displayed a firm courage in piety. One of them, having become, as Scripture called him, “the spokesman,” said to the tyrant: “What do you intend to ask and learn? For we are ready to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers.” But why need I tell what they endured from frying pans and cauldrons heated red-hot, so that they might be tortured in them after each had first suffered different torments? For the one called their “spokesman” first had his tongue cut out; then he was scalped, and he bore the scalping as others bear circumcision for the sake of the divine law, thinking that in this too he was fulfilling the word of God's covenant. And not content with this, Antiochus mutilated his extremities “while the rest of the brothers and the mother looked on,” punishing the brothers and the mother by the sight and thinking to shake their purpose by what were thought such fearful things. So, not content with these things, Antiochus, when he “had become useless,” as far as the use of his body went, through the first punishments, “ordered him to be brought to the fire,” in the pans and cauldrons, “still breathing, and to be fried.” And as the vapor rose from the flesh of the most noble athlete of piety, roasted by the tyrant's cruelty, the rest, “with their mother, encouraged one another to die nobly,” consoling themselves with the thought that God was watching these things; for the conviction that the eye of God was present with those enduring was enough for their endurance. And the judge of the contest of the athletes of piety encouraged them, being himself encouraged and, if I may so call it, gladdened by those who rose above such pains. It would be timely for us too, when we come into such things, to say to ourselves their words, which run thus: “The Lord God watches over us and in truth has compassion on us.”
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The account follows 2 Macc 7:1–6, partly quoted and partly paraphrased; their closing words (2 Macc 7:6) echo Deut 32:36. “Encouraged … has compassion” renders the same verb παρακαλέω, which Origen plays on: God “encourages” the athletes and is himself “encouraged” (moved to compassion).
Cite this passage
Origen, Mart. 23 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/23/).
Plain text
Origen, Mart. 23 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/23/).
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