Exhortation to Martyrdom · §2

Loving God with the whole soul

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With whole soul, I think, God is loved by those who tear and rend her, through great eagerness to commune with God, not only from this 'corpse' of a body but from every body — for whom laying aside 'the body' 'of humiliation' happens without even distraction or any dragging, when occasion gives, through deemed death, to strip off 'the body of death' and be heard praying apostolically, saying: 'Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Philippians 3:21) For who of those groaning 'in the tent,' weighed down by the corruptible body, will not also give thanks, first saying 'Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Romans 7:24–25) — seeing that, through converse, delivered 'from the body of death,' (Psalm 42:2–5 (LXX 41)) he shall holily utter the 'Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord' (2 Corinthians 5:4 (tent))? But if this seems hard to anyone, he has not 'thirsted toward' God the strong, 'the living,' nor longed for God as the hind longs 'for the springs of waters' (Psalm 42:2–5); nor said, 'When shall I come and appear before God's face?'; nor reckoned with himself what the prophet, reckoning — when 'Where is thy God?' was said to him 'daily' — poured 'his soul' over himself, rebuking her if ever she became faint through weakness and troubled, and saying: 'I shall pass through to the place of the wondrous tent, unto God's house, with voice of exultation and confession, the sound of feasting.' (2 Corinthians 5:4)

Greek

ένῳ διδόναι τῷ μεγαλοδώρῳ καὶ ἐπιστημόνως τὰς ἑαυτοῖ χάριτας μεγεϑύνοντι ϑεῷ ἐπὶ τοὺς ὅση δύναμις διὰ τοῦ χαταπεφρονηχέναι τοῦ ὀστρακίνου σκεύους ἐπιδειξα- μένους τὴν ὅλῃ ψυχῇ πρὸς αὐτὸν ἀγάπην.

II. Ὅλῃ δὲ ψυχῇ νομίζω ἀγαπᾶσϑαι τὸν ϑεὸν ὑπὸ τῶν ἀποσπών- τῶν καὶ διστάντον αὐτὴν διὰ πολλὴν τὴν πρὸς τὸ κοινονῆσαι τῷ ϑεῷ προϑυμίαν οὐ μόνον ἀπὸ τοῦ znlvov σώματος ἀλλὰ καὶ ἀπὸ παντὸς σώματος" οἷς οὐδὲ μετὰ περισπασμοῦ καὶ περιελκυσμοῦ τινος γίνεται τὸ ἀποϑέσϑαι „ro“ „eng ταπεινάσεως" „ooua“, ὅταν καιρὸς διδῷ διὰ τοῦ νομιζομένου ϑανάτου ἐκδίσασϑαι τὸ σῶμα «τοῦ ϑανά- του" καὶ ἐπαχουσϑῆναι ἀποστολιχῶς εὐξάμενον καὶ εἰπόντα .τα- λαίπωρος ἐγαὺ ἀνϑρῶπος᾿ τίς με δύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ ϑανά- του τούτου" τίς γὰρ τῶν „ev τῷ σχήνει" στεναζόντων διὰ τὸ βα- ρεῖσϑαι ὑπὸ τοῦ φϑαρτοῦ σώματος οὐχὶ καὶ εὐχαριστήσει πρότεροι' εἰπών" „tig μὲ δύσεται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος τοῦ ϑανάτου τούτου;" βλέ- πων ὅτι διὰ τῆς ὁμιλίας δυσϑεὶς ἀπὸ ,τοῦ σώματος τοῦ ϑανάτου"

1 768. 28, 10. — ὃ Röm. 8, 18. — 5 II Kor. 4,17. — 811 Kor. 4,17. — 12

About this text

Written for Ambrose and Protoctetus. Open the Greek under each section.

English follows Paul Koetschau, Origenes Werke I (GCS, 1899). The Archive OCR of that same print was checked. This is a reading translation for study, not a new critical edition.

Witnesses

  • Copy-text Koetschau, Origenes Werke I (GCS 2, 1899) (Greek · Exhortation to Martyrdom)
  • Checked print Archive.org OCR of GCS 2 (Greek · Same print)

This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Greek on each section for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.