Exhortation to Martyrdom 35
Summary: Being confessed by Christ before the Father and the angels far outweighs any suffering; Origen suggests Christ as divine Son confesses before the Father and as Son of Man before the angels.
Greek text · Koetschau 1:32–33
Τίς δ᾿ἂν λογισάμενος τὰ τοιαῦτα οὐκ ἐπιφθέγξεται τὸ ἀποστολικὸν ἐκεῖνο· „ὅτι οὐκ ἄξια τὰ παθήματα τοῦ νῦν καιροῦ πρὸς τὴν μέλλουσαν δόξαν ἀποκαλυφθῆναι εἰς ἡμᾶς.“ πῶς γὰρ οὐ πολλῷ μείζων ὁμολογίας τῆς ἔμπροσθεν ἀνθρώπων ἡ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρὸς ὁμολογία; πῶς δ᾿οὐ καθʼ ὑπερβολὴν ὑπερέχουσα τῆς ἐπὶ γῆς ὁμολογίας, ἣν οἱ μάρτυρες ὁμολογοῦσι τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἡ ἐν οὐρανοῖς τοῦ ὁμολογηθέντος ὁμολογία; λογισάμενος δέ τις ἀρνήσασθαι „ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων“ ὑπομιμνησκέσθω τοῦ ἀψευδῶς εἰπόντος· „ἀπαρνήσομαι κἀγὼ αὐτὸν ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς.“ ἐπεὶ δὲ ὁ μὲν Ματθαῖος ἀνέγραψεν· „ὁμολογήσω κἀγὼ ἐν αὐτῷ ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ πατρός μου τοῦ ἐν οὐρανοῖς“, ὁ δὲ Λουκᾶς· „καὶ ὁ υἱὸς τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁμολογήσει ἐν αὐτῷ ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ θεοῦ“, ἐφίστημι, μή ποτε ὁ μὲν „πάσης κτίσεως“ „πρωτότοκος“, ἡ „εἰκὼν τοῦ ἀοράτου θεοῦ“, ὁμολογήσῃ τὸν ὁμολογήσαντα ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατρὸς, ὁ δὲ γενόμενος „ἐκ σπέρματος Δαυὶδ κατὰ σάρκα“ καὶ διὰ τοῦτο „υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου“ τυγχάνων καὶ γενόμενος ἐκ γυναικὸς καὶ αὐτῆς οὔσης ἀνθρώπου καὶ διὰ τοῦτο χρηματίζων „υἱὸς ἀνθρώπου“, ὅσπερ νοεῖται ὁ κατὰ τὸν Ἰησοῦν ἄνθρωπος, ὁμολογήσῃ τοὺς ὁμολογήσαντας „ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ θεοῦ.“ τὸ δʼ ἀνάλογον καὶ περὶ τῶν ἀρνησαμένων ἀποδοτέον. ἔτι δὲ καὶ τοῦτο θεωρητέον, ὅτι ὁ μὲν ὁμολογῶν ἐν τῷ υἱῷ „ἔμπροσθεν τῶν ἀνθρώπων“ τὸ ὅσον ἐφʼ ἑαυτῷ συνίστησι χριστιανισμὸν καὶ τὸν πατέρα τοῦ χριστιανισμοῦ τούτου ἐφʼ ὧν ὁμολογεῖ· ὁ δὲ ὁμολογούμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ πάσης κτίσεως πρωτοτόκου καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου συνίσταται διὰ τῆς τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τοῦ υἱοῦ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ὁμολογίας τῷ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατρὶ καὶ τοῖς ἀγγέλοις τοῦ θεοῦ. εἴπερ δὲ „οὐχ ὁ αὑτὸν συνιστάνων, ἐκεῖνός ἐστι δόκιμος, ἀλλὰ ὃν ὁ κύριος συνίστησι“, πῶς οὐ χρὴ νομίζειν εἶναι δόκιμον τὸν ἄξιον κριθέντα τῆς πρὸς τὸν ἐν οὐρανοῖς πατέρα καὶ τῆς πρὸς τοὺς ἀγγέλους τοῦ θεοῦ συστάσεως; εἰ δὲ δόκιμος οὗτος καὶ οἱ παραπλήσιοι αὐτῷ, οὓς „ὡς χρυσὸν ἐν χωνευτηρίῳ“ ταῖς βασάνοις καὶ ταῖς ἐξετάσεσιν „ἐδοκίμασεν“ ὁ κύριος „καὶ ὡς ὁλοκάρπωμα θυσίας προσεδέξατο“, τί χρὴ λέγειν περὶ τῶν ἐλεγχθέντων ἐν τῇ καμίνῳ τοῦ πειρασμοῦ καὶ ἀρνησαμένων, οὓς ὡς ἀδοκίμους ἀρνεῖται ἔμπροσθεν τοῦ ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς πατρὸς καὶ „ἐνώπιον τῶν ἀγγέλων τοῦ θεοῦ“ ὁ τὸν ἄξιον ἀρνήσεως ἀρνούμενος;
English · Claude translation
Who, having considered such things, will not cry out that saying of the apostle: “That the sufferings of the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us”? For how is confession before the Father not far greater than confession before men? And how does the confession in heaven by the one who has been confessed not exceed beyond measure the confession on earth by which the martyrs confess the Son of God? And let anyone who is thinking of denying “before men” remember him who said without falsehood: “I also will deny him before my Father in heaven.” And since Matthew recorded, “I also will confess in him before my Father in heaven,” and Luke, “the Son of Man also will confess in him before the angels of God,” I consider whether perhaps “the firstborn” of “all creation,” “the image of the invisible God,” will confess the one who confessed him before the Father in heaven, while he who was born “of the seed of David according to the flesh,” and is for this reason “son of man,” and was born of a woman who was herself a human being and is for this reason called “Son of Man”—by which is understood the man in Jesus—will confess those who confessed him “before the angels of God.” The corresponding account must be given of those who deny. And this too must be considered: that the one who confesses in the Son “before men” commends, as far as in him lies, Christianity and the Father of this Christianity to those before whom he confesses; while the one who is confessed by the firstborn of all creation and by the Son of Man is commended, through the confession of the Son of God and of the Son of Man, to the Father in heaven and to the angels of God. And if “it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends,” how must we not consider approved the one judged worthy of being commended to the Father in heaven and to the angels of God? And if he is approved, and those like him, whom the Lord “tested” by tortures and examinations “like gold in the furnace and accepted like a whole burnt offering,” what must be said of those who have been exposed in the furnace of temptation and have denied, whom he who denies the one deserving denial denies as unapproved before the Father in heaven and “before the angels of God”?
About this passage
Notes
Translation notes
- The quotations are Rom 8:18, Matt 10:32–33, Luke 12:8, Col 1:15, Rom 1:3, Gal 4:4, 2 Cor 10:18, and Wis 3:6. The distinction between the confession by “the firstborn of all creation” and by “the Son of Man” (“the man in Jesus”) is Origen's own tentative christological reading (“I consider whether”).
Cite this passage
Origen, Mart. 35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/35/).
Plain text
Origen, Mart. 35 (trans. Sophia Scriptura, https://sophiascriptura.com/fathers/origen-exhortatio/35/).
Download citation:BibTeX ·RIS (Zotero, EndNote)
Whole work:BibTeX ·RIS ·Markdown text