Exhortation to Martyrdom

with sinners, and with those who work iniquity, do not destroy me along with them; and if there is anything like these.” It is reasonable, having begun with a doxology, to conclude the prayer with a doxology, hymning and glorifying the Father of all through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit, to whom be glory forever. ^A These things, in accordance with my ability, have been discussed by us regarding the problem of prayer, and the prayer in the Gospels, and those things said by Matthew before it, most learned brothers, and true brothers in piety, Ambrose and Tatiana. But I do not despair that, as you always stretch yourselves toward the things ahead and forget those behind, and meanwhile pray for us, you might be able to receive even more and more divine things from God, the giver of all these things, to work through; and having received them, I might again discuss the same things more grandly, more loftily, and more clearly. In the meantime, however, you will receive these things in good part. ^B

ADMONITION TO THE EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM

There is absolutely no controversy among the learned regarding the sincerity of this golden little work, which is celebrated everywhere among the ancients. Eusebius not only commemorates the book *On Martyrdom*, but also narrates the occasion on which Origen was moved to write it, in his *Ecclesiastical History*, book VI. Meanwhile, after the death of the Emperor Alexander, who had reigned for thirteen years, Maximinus Caesar succeeds him, who, inflamed with a great hatred against the household of Alexander, in which there were many Christians, having stirred up a persecution, ordered only the leaders of the Churches to be put to death, as being the authors of the teaching according to the Gospel. At that time, Origen composed the book *On Martyrdom*, dedicating the writing to Ambrose and Protoctetus, a presbyter of the parish in Caesarea, because both had been caught in a trial that was by no means ordinary during that persecution, in which it is said that they both distinguished themselves in the confession [of Christ], with Maximinus having survived for no more than three years’ time. Rufinus paraphrases the later words thus: "At that time, therefore, Origen writes the book *On Martyrdom* to Ambrose, who, having reached the most advanced stage, strengthened as if by certain very strong nerves, freely offered himself to the confession of the name of Christ." Pamphilus the martyr, in his *Apology for Origen*, mentions the same book with these words: "Finally, among so many and so diverse books of his, there is never found one book written by him specifically *On the Soul*, as he has *On Martyrdom*, or *On Prayer*, or *On the Resurrection*." Jerome, in *On Ecclesiastical Writers*, under *Ambrose*, says: "Ambrose, he says, was first a Marcionite, then corrected by Origen, a deacon of the Church, and distinguished for the glory of the confession of the Lord, to whom the book of Origen *On Martyrdom* is written *pro* (for) the presbyter Theoctistus." From Origen's own booklet, and from the place of Eusebius cited above, as well as from another soon to be cited from Nicephorus Callistus, it is clear that a serious error of the copyists crept into this text of Jerome, who confused Theoctistus, the Bishop of Caesarea, with Protoctetus, a presbyter of Caesarea; and although the corruption of the copies is very ancient, as is evident from the Greek version of Sophronius, Halloixius rightly observes in his notes to *Origen's Defense*, p. 23, that it should be read entirely: "Cui et Protocteto" (To whom and to Protoctetus), or if one prefers the reading of Freculfus, "cui cum Protocteto" (to whom with Protoctetus), we shall read. Nicephorus Callistus, in his *Ecclesiastical History*, book V, ch. 19, speaks thus about our booklet: Joannes Langus translated it thus: "And so at that time he composed that celebrated oration by which he exhorts to martyrdom, and inscribed it to Ambrose and Protoctetus, presbyters of Caesarea: for great solicitude and anxiety had come upon them on account of the vehemence of that persecution. In which oration both of them had explanations of the reasons why they should bravely sustain and endure the struggle for Christ in the stadium of martyrdom." There is a double fault, if I am not mistaken, in the translator's version of this passage: first, when he renders the words: "and inscribed it to Ambrose and Protoctetus, presbyters of Caesarea." For Ambrose was only a deacon of the Church, as we heard above from Jerome. Therefore Langus should have translated: "to Ambrose and Protoctetus, a presbyter of the Church of Caesarea." The second, when these later words: [alt-version omitted]

to struggle splendidly for the prize of Christ, ^A he translates: "In which contest both those men had the arguments set forth, so that they might endure and bear the struggle for Christ in the stadium of martyrdom." It ought to have been translated: "In which persecution both are reported to have sustained an illustrious struggle for Christ." For Nicephorus Callistus intends nothing else here than what Eusebius says in the passage lauded above. How useful, indeed, this writing of Origen was even to others, the same Nicephorus Callistus seems to convey in *Hist. eccl.*, book 5: "In Palestine, the struggles and wrestling bouts were no less; most of those who were in them bore the contest by means of the exhortations of Origen’s speeches."

ORIGEN'S EXHORTATORY DISCOURSE ON MARTYRDOM.

^B 1. "Those who have been weaned from milk, those who have been pulled away from the breast. Expect tribulation upon tribulation; expect hope upon hope; a little while, a little while, because of the mocking of lips, because of a different tongue" (Isa. XXVIII, 9, 10, 11). And so you, too, according to Isaiah, as ones who are no longer carnal, nor infants in Christ, but have progressed deeply in your intellectual age, O most God-worthy Ambrose and most pious Protoctetus, and who no longer have need of milk but of solid food—listen to how, as ones who have been weaned from milk and pulled away from the breast, the tribulation is foretold for those who have been weaned, just as for athletes, not as a simple tribulation, but as a certain tribulation upon tribulation. But he who does not refuse the tribulation upon tribulation, but, like a courageous athlete, receives it, immediately receives also hope upon hope, by which, after a small tribulation upon hope, he will enjoy it. For this is what it means: "A little while, a little while" (Isa. XXVIII, 10).

^A And if foreigners should hold us in contempt, and belittle us, calling us impious or fools, let us remember the discourse according to the Holy Scriptures, that the hope upon hope, which was given to us for a little while, shall be given back through the mocking of lips, through another tongue. And who would not welcome tribulation upon tribulation, so that he might immediately welcome also hope upon hope? Reflecting with Paul that "the sufferings of the present time are not worthy" (Rom. VIII, 18), ^B by which we as it were purchase blessedness, "in comparison with the future glory to be revealed in us" (Rom. VIII, 18); and especially since "the instantaneous lightness of our tribulation" (a lightness which both is, and is called, such by those who are not weighed down by the things encompassing them, as much as it becomes superlative, so much does it work for us in greater and more abundant measure "an eternal weight" (II Cor. IV, 17) of glory), if, when those who afflict us press upon us and wish, so to speak, to weigh down our souls, we turn our ruling faculty away from the grievous things, and gaze not upon the things that are present and grievous, but upon the things laid up by the grace of God for those who have

legitimately struggled in Christ

^B I believe that God is loved with the whole soul by those who tear themselves away and stand apart, through their great eagerness to commune with God, not only from the earthly body, but also from every body; for whom it does not happen even with distraction or any dragging about that they "lay aside" (Phil. III, 21) the body of humility, when time gives the opportunity through the presumed death to "put off the body of death" (Rom. VII, 24), and to be heard as they have prayed apostolically, saying, "Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. VII, 24). For who among those groaning in this tabernacle because they are burdened by the corruptible body would not also give thanks after saying first: "Who will deliver me from the body of this death?" (Rom. VII, 24). Seeing that, by the utterance, he has been delivered from the body of death, he will holily exclaim: "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. VII, 25). ^D But if to someone such a thing seems difficult, he has not "thirsted for God, the strong, the living," nor has he "longed for God, as the deer longs for the fountains of waters" (Ps. XLI, 1-2); nor has he said, "When shall I come, and appear before the face of God?" (Ps. XLI, 2). Nor has he reflected within himself on what the prophet reflected upon when it was said to him, "Where is your God?" (Ps. XLI, 3); he poured out his soul within himself, reproaching it still according to every day...

he poured out his soul within himself, rebuking it as it was still, in its infirmity, becoming sorrowful and troubled, and saying: "For I shall pass over into the place of the wonderful tabernacle, even to the house of God, with the voice of joy and confession of one celebrating a feast" (Ps. XLI, 5).

4. I desire, therefore, that you, throughout the whole struggle that lies before you, being mindful of that great reward which is laid up in the heavens for those who suffer persecution and reproaches for righteousness' sake, and for the sake of the Son of man (Matt. V, 11, 12), should rejoice, exult, and leap for joy, just as the apostles once rejoiced, because they were "counted worthy to suffer shame for his name" (Acts V, 41). And if at any time you ^B feel any anguish in your soul, let the Spirit of Christ, which is in you—whom that soul, as much as it can, seeks to confuse—say to it: "Why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in God, for I will still confess to him" (Ps. XLI, 6). And again... Would that the soul might not be troubled at all, but, even before the tribunals themselves, and before naked swords brought against the throat, might be guarded by "the peace of God, which surpasseth all understanding" (Phil. IV, 7), and be tranquil, considering that "those who depart from the body are present with the Lord of all" (II Cor. V, 8). But if we are not such that we can always preserve the tranquility of our soul, let it at least not be poured out, nor let its commotion appear to outsiders, so that a place of defense may remain for us before God, for us to say to Him: "O my God, my soul is troubled within me" (Ps. XLI, 6). ^C But the word also exhorts us to remember that which is said in Isaiah in this manner: "Fear not the reproach of men, and be not overcome by their reviling" (Isa. LI, 7). For it is absurd, when God is clearly presiding over the movement of the heaven and those things which are in it, and over those things which are brought to completion on earth and in the sea by His divine art, in the generation, constitution, nourishment, and growth of animals and plants of every kind, for us to blink and not look upon God, but to turn our eyes toward men who will die in a short time and be handed over to punishments they deserve, and to fear them.

277 5. To Abraham of old, God said: "Go forth out of thy land" (Gen. XII, 1); and to us, perhaps, it will shortly be said: "Go forth out of the whole earth"; which it is good to obey, so that He may quickly show us the heavens, in which is that which is called the kingdom of heaven. ^D For we may see that the life of those who struggle for the sake of many virtues is full of contests. For many, even those who are counted among outsiders—many indeed—will seem to have struggled for temperance; and some have chosen to die bravely rather than desert their common master. Those who have excelled in examining and handling matters by reason have likewise dedicated their labor to prudence; and those who have proposed for themselves to live justly have surrendered themselves to justice. Thus, the wisdom of the flesh, or many external things, battle against each individual virtue; but for piety alone fights...

the “chosen race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people for his own possession” [*] — not even to the extent of appearing to show others that, if there be things that oppose the pious, they propose to die for piety, preferring death with piety to living with impiety [(64)]. Therefore, with the heart ^B God is believed unto righteousness by such people, but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation; they grasp that they will neither be justified unless they believe in the God of their heart, being thus disposed, nor will they be in salvation unless, as is the disposition, so also the word is. For they deceive themselves who think that it suffices to attain the end in Christ, without adding the other, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness,” even if there be not present, “And with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” And one might even say that it is more a matter of honoring with the lips, while having the heart far from God, than to honor Him with the heart, while the mouth does not make confession unto salvation.

And I would say that those who, when brought before a tribunal or even before they are led to a tribunal, abjure the Christian faith, do not indeed offer ^C worship [latreuo, service] but do offer proskynesis [bowing-down] to idols [(65)], taking the name of the Lord God upon vain and lifeless matter. Yet the people who were defiled with the daughters of Moab offered proskynesis in this way, and did not offer latreia [divine service] to the idols; for it is written in these very words: “They called them to the sacrifices of their idols, and the people ate of their sacrifices, and they offered proskynesis to their idols; and Israel was initiated into Beelphegor” [*]. And observe that it is not said: “And they offered latreia to their idols.” For it was not possible, after so many signs and wonders, in a single moment of time to be persuaded by the women with whom they were committing fornication, to think that the idols were gods. Perhaps in the same way, regarding the calf in Exodus… ^D [alt-version omitted]

^A they worshipped, not worshipping the calf, which they had seen being made. Therefore, we must consider the trial that stood before us to be a test and an examination of our love toward God; for "the Lord your God is testing you," as it is written in Deuteronomy, "to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul." But you, being tested, "shall walk after the Lord your God, and you shall fear Him, and you shall keep His commandments" (and especially, "You shall have no other gods besides Me"), "and you shall hear His voice, and to Him you shall cleave," who takes you from these places and adds you to Himself for, as the Apostle named it, ^B the growth of God in him.

If then every evil word is an "abomination to the Lord your God," how great an abomination must we consider to be the wicked word of denial, and the wicked speech of proclaiming another God, and the wicked oath by the fortune of men, a thing that has no subsistence at all? When this is proposed to us, one must remember Him who taught: "But I say to you, do not swear at all." For if he who swears "by heaven" transgresses, making God’s throne an object of injury; and he who swears "by the earth" is impious, making that which is called God’s "footstool" into an idol; and he who swears "by Jerusalem" sins, "although it is the city of the great King"; ^C and he who swears "by his own head" does wrong; how great a sin must we consider it to be, to swear by the fortune of anyone? And then one must remember also: "Of every idle word you shall give an account in the day of judgment."

Furthermore, as to the matter of serving, note how he said: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve." Observe how, to the word "serve," he added "only," but not to the word "worship," because it is permitted to worship others, for worship is a declaration of honor; but to serve, by no means. ^D

The persecutors often gave orders. The Proconsul of Smyrna, when St. Polycarp was being led to martyrdom, commanded: "Swear by the fortune of Caesar" (see Eusebius, *Hist. eccl.*, bk. IV, cap. 15, and Nicephorus, bk. III, cap. 35); but neither that holy man nor others among the Christians admitted this impiety. Origen offers very weighty reasons in his *Contra Celsum*, bk. VIII, n. 65: "We do not swear even by the fortune of the king, nor by any other of those considered gods. For if, as some have named it, fortune is only an utterance and exists only in opinion and abstraction, we do not swear by that which in no way exists as a god, or as something existing at all, and capable of doing anything, so that we may not misapply the power of an oath to things not permitted; or if, as it seemed to some who said it, they swear by the demon of the Roman king when they swear by his fortune, the so-called fortune of the king is of the demons; and thus it is better for us to die than to swear by an evil and treacherous demon." Hence Tertullian, *Apologeticum*, cap. 32: "We are accustomed to adjure demons, that is, spirits, so that we may expel them from men; not to swear by them, so as to confer upon them the honor of divinity."

^A 279 Or is it necessary to remember this: "You shall give an account for every idle word on the day of judgment." For what other discourse is so idle as an oath joined to a denial? For in no way are creatures to be worshipped when the Creator is present, and one who suffices for the prayers of all, indeed, one who anticipates them. And not even the sun himself would wish to be worshipped by those who are of God’s portion; and it is likely that he would not wish to be worshipped by anyone else either; but, imitating the One who said: "Why do you call Me good? No one is good except One, God the Father," he would as if say to one wishing to worship him: "Why do you call me God? There is one true God; and why do you worship me? For you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. I also am a creature; why do you wish to worship one who worships? For I too worship and serve the God and Father," and, obeying His commands, "I have been subjected to vanity because of Him who subjected me in hope," and, though I myself am bound to a corruptible body, I shall be freed "from the slavery of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

8. It is to be expected that there will be some prophet of impiety, perhaps not one, but many. They will speak to us ^B

EXHORTATION TO MARTYRDOM

[alt-version omitted]

^C Non-doubt that [proskynesis] is to be denied to all creatures whatsoever when it is taken for the external cult by which the supreme authority of the being who is worshipped is recognized in us. But in the notes to the previous number it has already been observed that [proskynesis] is not always used in so strict a sense, but sometimes by that word is denoted a simple cult of honor and observance toward angels and holy men, not as lords and authors of celestial goods, but as friends of God, whose intercession for us before Him avails much. In this sense the Greek Church has for many centuries granted [proskynesis] to men, angels, and saints. Nor is Origen a stranger to such a way of thinking, for in the eighth book against Celsus, no. 57, he says about angels: "We praise them and deem them blessed, to whom the things useful to our race have been entrusted by God; but we do not accord to them the honor due to God." Where you see that it is only the honor due to God that is excluded from the angels. Moreover, the first homily on Ezekiel venerates an angel with prayer without beating about the bush: "All things," he says, "are full of angels. Come, Angel; receive one who has been converted by speech from his pristine error, from the doctrine of demons, from iniquity speaking on high; receiving him as a good physician, warm and instruct him." See the book of the Origenians, quæst. 5, no. 36.

^D (71) "Why do you call Me good," etc. On this scriptural place, see the notes to the book *On Prayer*, no. 15, page 223.

(72) "Why do you wish to worship him who worships... I also worship and serve the God and Father." He introduces the sun speaking, whom, as well as all other stars, he has handed down everywhere in his writings as possessing a soul [ἐνδεδεμένην φθαρτῷ σώματι], "bound to a corruptible body," and not only here. See the book of the Origenians, question eight.

^A or as a word of the Lord which the Lord did not command, or as a word of wisdom, a word alien to wisdom, that it might kill us with the word of its mouth. But let us then, when the sinner has taken his stand against us, say: "I, however, as a deaf man, did not hear, and as a mute who does not open his mouth; and I became as a man who does not hear." For it is beautiful to be deaf to impious speeches, when we lose hope of correcting those who speak of worse things.

9. It will also be profitable for us, at the times when we are provoked to what is contrary to God, to consider what God wishes to teach us when He says: "I am the Lord thy God, a jealous God." And I think, indeed, that just as a bridegroom who wishes to lead his bride to live chastely, so that she may attach herself entirely to the bridegroom and with all diligence take heed not to pour out herself to anyone else alien to the bridegroom—even if he be wise, he will nevertheless display zeal, using such a display as a medicine for the bride; so ^B too He who announces—and especially if He appear to be "the firstborn of all creation"—says to the bride, the soul, that God is a jealous God, turning those who hear away from all fornication with demons and those who are thought to be gods. And as God, thus jealous, He says concerning those who have in any way whatsoever committed fornication after other gods: "They have provoked me to jealousy with that which was no god; and I will provoke them with that which is no people; with a foolish nation I will anger them, for a fire has been kindled from my wrath; it shall burn even to the lowest hell."

10. But even if the bridegroom, as a wise and passionless being, does not turn his betrothed away from every defilement for his own sake, he will certainly, for her sake, seeing her defilement and abomination, do everything that can heal and turn her back, employing, as for a nature that is free and self-determining, arguments that deter from fornication. What defilement, therefore, can you conceive to be worse for a soul than to proclaim another God, and not to confess Him who is truly the one and only Lord? And I think, indeed, that just as "he that is joined to a harlot is one body," so ^D I consider that he who confesses someone, especially at a time of torture and examination of the faith, is mingled and united to the one whom he confesses; while he who denies, by the very act of denial, is divided and separated from Him whom he denies, by the denial itself, as if by a sharp sword. Wherefore observe whether it is said that what happens consequently and necessarily, so that Christ should confess him who has confessed Him, but deny him who has denied Him, is that saying: "Everyone who confesses Me before men, I also will confess him before My Father who is in heaven." And the Word Himself, and Truth Itself, could say to him who confesses and to him who denies: "With what measure you measure, it shall be measured back to you." You, therefore, who have measured

^A your confession of me, shall receive the "measure" of my confession of you—"good, and pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, which shall be given into your bosom." But you, who have measured with the measure of denial and have denied me, shall receive, by the measure of your denial, the corresponding measure of my denial of you.

How the measure of confession is fulfilled, or whether it is not fulfilled but falls short, we may consider in this way. If, during the entire time of examination and temptation, we give no place in our hearts to the devil—who wishes to defile us with evil thoughts of denial, or of double-mindedness, or of any persuasion that seems plausible and invites us to things hostile to martyrdom and perfection—and, in addition to this, if we do not defile ourselves with any word foreign to our confession; and if we bear all the insults, mockery, laughter, defamation, and the pity from those who seem to pity us, thinking us ^B to be wandering, foolish, and deceived; and furthermore, if we are not pulled away and distracted by love for children, or for their mother, or for any of those things which are regarded as most dear in this life, so that we might cling to possessions or to this life itself, but have turned away from all these and become wholly God’s, and of the life that is with Him and in Him, as those who are to have communion with His Only-begotten Son and those who are His partakers; then we shall be able to say that we have fulfilled the measure of our confession. If, however, we have failed in even one of these things, we have not fulfilled, but have defiled, the measure of our confession. Wherefore, we shall have need of those things of which they have need who "have built upon the foundation wood, or hay, or stubble."

And this also we must know: that we have accepted the so-called covenants of God on the conditions which we made with Him when we accepted to live according to the Christian religion. And in these our covenants with God, the entire evangelical way of life was contained, saying: ^C "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever would save his soul shall lose it. But whoever loses his soul for my sake shall save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but suffers the loss of his own soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will repay each according to his work." That it is necessary to deny oneself, to take up one’s own cross, and to follow Jesus is recorded not only by Matthew, whose words we have set forth, but also by Luke and Mark. For hear Luke saying: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever ^D would

save ^A his life (77) will lose it; but whoever loses his life for my sake, he will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?" And by Mark: "And calling to him the crowd with his disciples, he said to them: If any one wishes to follow after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses it for the sake of the Gospel, will save it. For what shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? For what shall a man give as an exchange for his life?" Long ago, then, we ought to have denied ourselves and said: "It is no longer I who live"; and now let it be manifest whether, having taken up our cross, we have followed Jesus: which fact, if Christ lives in us, has come to pass. ^B If we wish to save our own life, that we may receive it back better than it was (78), let us lose it through martyrdom. For if we lose it for Christ's sake, casting it upon him in death for his sake, we shall provide true salvation for it. But if the contrary, we shall hear that it profits nothing to one who has gained the whole sensible world through his own destruction; and when one has once lost his own life, or forfeited it, even if he gains the whole world, he will not be able to give it as an exchange for the life that is being lost. For that which was created in the image of God is more precious than all things. One alone has been able to give an exchange for our life lost before, he who redeemed us ^C with his own precious blood.

13. Therefore, if you who are lovers of learning in Christ, and who already desire to pass beyond that which is "through a mirror and in an enigma" (79), hasten to him who has called you, you will know as much as you have never known, namely "face to face," as friends of the Father who is in heaven. For friends learn not in figures and not through enigmas, or by the naked wisdom of words, and expressions, and symbols, and types, but they attain to the nature of intelligible things or the beauty of truth. If it is believed that Paul was caught up ^D into the third heaven, and heard "unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter," you will consequently understand that of the unspeakable words then revealed to Paul, after which he descended from the third heaven, you will immediately know more and greater things, after which knowledge you will not descend, if ye—

taking up the cross, follow behind Jesus, ^A who “we have a great high priest who has passed into the heavens” (Heb. iv, 14). And you yourselves, not departing from behind Him, will pass through the heavens, not only transcending the mysteries concerning them, but the heavens themselves and the things concerning them. For there are stored up in God sights much greater than these, which no nature that is in a body can grasp unless it is first separated from the body. For I am convinced that what the sun and the moon have seen, and the choir of the stars, ^B or even the choir of the holy angels which God made “a spirit and a flame of fire” (Psal. civ, 4), God stores up and keeps for Himself much greater things, to reveal them when “the whole creation shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. viii, 21).

But to you, holy Ambrosius, looking closely at the evangelical utterance, it is possible to see that perhaps no one of those who have ever lived, or very few, will attain such an exceptional and greater ^C kind of beatitude, in which you also shall be, if you unwaveringly complete the struggle. The words are as follows: Peter once said to the Savior, “Behold, we have left all and followed you; what then shall we have?” And Jesus said to them—that is, to the apostles— “Amen I say to you, that you yourselves who have followed me, in the regeneration, when God shall sit on the throne of his glory, you also shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left brothers, or sisters, or parents, or children, or fields, or ^D houses for the sake of my name, shall receive many times more, and shall inherit eternal life” (Matth. xix, 27-29). On account of these words I would have wished to have acquired so many things on earth, as many as you have, or even more, in order to become a witness in Christ to God, that I might receive many times more, or, as Mark says, “a hundredfold” (Marc. x, 30). Far greater are the things multiplied a hundredfold than the few things we shall leave if we are called to martyrdom. For this reason, if I am a martyr, I would desire even to leave children with fields and houses, in order that before God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, “from whom all fatherhood in heaven and on earth is named” (Eph. iii, 14-15), I may be called the father of many more and holier children, or, to speak definitely, of a hundredfold.

15. If then one who, as it were, covets the greater gifts, and counts as blessed the rich martyrs, and the fathers who are martyrs who are about to beget a hundredfold children, and to receive a hundredfold fields and houses, asks if it is just that those should have a more abundant possession in spiritual things than those martyrs who in this life were poor, he should seek if those rich ones are about to attain a greater glory in spiritual things than the poor martyrs.

^A We must answer him that just as those who have endured torments and sufferings showed forth a virtue in their martyrdom more brilliant than those who have not been tested in such ways, so also those who have broken through and rent asunder the bonds of love for the body and love for life—and they are many—having exercised a great love toward God and having truly taken up the living and active Word of God, and one more cutting than any two-edged sword, have been able, by snapping such bonds and fashioning wings for themselves, to return like an eagle, as it is said, to the house of their Master. Since, therefore, it is right for those who have not been tested in torments and labors to yield the primacy to those who have manifested patience on the rack and in various kinds of tortures and in fire, so also for us who are poor, even if we should be martyrs, reason suggests that we should yield the primacy to you, who for the sake of the love of God in Christ trample upon the deceitful glory sought after by the many, such great possessions, and natural affection for your children.

16. At the same time, also observe the solemnity of Scripture, which promises a manifold increase and a hundredfold of brothers, and children, and parents, and fields, and houses; but a wife is not counted among these. For it has not been said: "Everyone who has left brothers, or sisters, or parents, or children, or fields, or houses, or a wife for my name’s sake, will receive many times more." For in the resurrection of the dead they neither marry, nor are they given in marriage, but are as the angels who are in heaven.

17. Therefore, what Joshua said to the people when brought into the possession of the holy land, that the Scripture can say to us now. For this is how the passage reads: ^C “Now fear the Lord, and serve him in uprightness and in justice.” And as we are being urged toward the worship of idols, it will add the things that follow: “Put away the foreign gods which your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.” At the beginning, then, when you were about to be catechized, it could reasonably have been said to you: “If it does not please you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves whom you will serve, whether the gods whom your fathers served beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.” And the catechist would have said to you: “But I and my house will serve the Lord, for he is holy.” Now, however, there is no place for this to be said to you; for then you said: “Far be it from us that we should abandon the Lord, so as to serve other gods. The Lord our God is he [who...] ^D

is God.” ^A Indeed, even in the covenants concerning piety, you answered long ago to those who catechized you: “And we will serve the Lord; for this is our God.” If, therefore, he who breaks covenants made with men is a traitor and alien to salvation, what must be said of those who, by apostatizing, render void the covenants they made with God, and return to Satan, whom they renounced when they were baptized? For it must be said to such people, in the words spoken by Eli to his sons: “If a man sins against a man, they shall pray for him; but if he sins against the Lord, who shall pray for him?”

^B A great theater is assembled for us as we struggle and are called to martyrdom; it is as if we were speaking of such an event happening to certain paradoxical athletes who are supposed to be competing, with countless people gathering to watch the spectacle of the struggle. And you shall be no less than Paul when you struggle: “We have become a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men.” Therefore, the whole world and all the angels, both those on the right and on the left, and all men—both those who are on God's side and those who are on the others—will hear us struggling. ^C And whether those in heaven rejoice over which of the two—

^D

^A whether we ought to deny or confess—a saying may be uttered like this: "How long will you limp on both sides? If the Lord is God, follow him." And the angels in heaven will rejoice over us, and "the rivers will clap their hands together, and the mountains will exult, and all the trees of the field will clap with their branches." But—may it not be so!—the powers below, which delight in evils, will rejoice. It is not out of place to see, from the things written by Isaiah, what will be said to those who have been defeated and have fallen from the heavenly martyrdom by those in Hades, so that we may yet tremble at the impiety found in denying. For I think it will be said to the one who has denied such things: "Hades from beneath was stirred up to meet you; all the giants who ruled the earth rose up against you, who raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All shall answer and say to you." But what will the defeated powers say to the defeated, and those captured by the devil to those who have been captured through denial? "You also have been captured even as we." If, however, someone who possessed a great and glorious hope in God, later being overcome by timidity or the trials presented to him, will hear from God: ^B "Your glory is brought down to Hades, the sweetness and rot shall be spread under you, and the worm will be your covering." And if someone shone often in the Churches, appearing to them like Lucifer, with his good works shining before men, and after these things, having been committed to the great struggle, fell from such a crown and such a throne, he will hear: "How did Lucifer, who rose in the morning, fall from heaven? He was crushed to the ground." And this too will be said to him, having been made like the devil through denial: "They shall be cast out on the mountains as a corpse loathed, with many who have died; as a garment stained with blood will not be clean, so neither shall you be clean." For how could he be clean, being defiled by the abomination of the sin of denial, as if by slaughter and blood, and stained with such great evil? Let us beware lest even a doubt ever arise in us as to whether we ought to deny or confess; lest the word of Elijah be said to us: "How long do you limp on two sides? If the Lord is God, follow him."

^C 19. It is likely that you will also be mocked by some and held in reproach by our neighbors who are round about us, who will shake their heads at us as if at senseless people; but when these things happen, let us say to God: "You have made us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and derision to those around us. You have made us a proverb among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. All the day my shame is before me, and the confusion of my face has covered me, from the voice of him who reproaches and speaks against me, from the face of the enemy and persecutor." But against these things we must use those free words of the Prophet to be said to God: "All these things have come upon us, and we have not forgotten ^D

thee, and we have not acted unrighteously in thy covenant, and our heart hath not turned back ^A."

Let us remember, that being placed in this life, and understanding the ways which are outside of life, we say to God: "Thou hast turned aside our paths from thy way 47." It is necessary to remember that this place is a place of the affliction of the soul, in which we have been humbled, so that in our prayers we may say: "Thou hast humbled us in a place of affliction, and the shadow of death has covered us 48." And let us confidently say also this: "If we have forgotten the name of our God, and if we have stretched out our hands to a strange god, shall not God search these things out 49?"

Let us strive to take up not only the martyrdom that is manifest ^B, but also that which is in secret, so that we too may speak in apostolic fashion: "For this is our boast, the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God we have conducted ourselves in this world 50." And let us join to the apostolic word that prophetic one: "And he himself knows the secrets of the heart 51"; and especially when we are being led to death, when we shall say that which is said to God by martyrs alone: "Because for thy sake we are killed all the day long; we have been accounted as sheep for the slaughter 52." But if at any time the prudence of the flesh suggests to us fear of the judges who threaten us with death, then let us say to them that word from the Proverbs: "My son, honor the Lord, and thou shalt be strong; but besides him, fear no other 53."

And this also is useful for the things lying before us. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes: "I praised all the dead who are dead more than the living, as many as are alive until now 54." But who would more reasonably ^C be praised as dead than he who of his own free will has undertaken death for the sake of piety? Such was Eleazar, who "embracing a most glorious death rather than an odious life, voluntarily went forward to punishment," and who "taking up a noble line of reasoning, worthy of his ninety years of age and the eminence of his old age and his illustrious gray hair, and his most excellent education from childhood, but rather of the holy and God-established law, said: 'It is not worthy of our age to play the hypocrite, so that many of the young, supposing that Eleazar the ninety-year-old has gone over to the manner of life of aliens, should themselves also, because of my hypocrisy, and for the sake of a small and fleeting life, be led astray for my sake, and I should acquire defilement and a stain for my old age; for even if I should escape the punishment ^D of men for the present time, yet I shall not escape the hands of the Almighty, either alive or dead. Wherefore, by bravely departing from life now, I shall appear worthy of my old age, and have left behind to the young a noble example for the courageous..."

^A I pray that you, standing at the gates of death—or rather of liberty—especially if pains should press upon you, may say to the Lord, who possesses holy knowledge: “It is manifest that although I could be delivered from death, I endure harsh bodily pains while being scourged; but in my soul, for fear of Him, I gladly suffer these things.” Such indeed was the death of Eleazar, who “left behind his own death not only to the young, but to the majority of his nation, as an example of nobility and a memorial of virtue.”

23. Moreover, those seven brothers ^B who, as the books of the Maccabees report, persevered in their religion despite being tortured by Antiochus with whips and leather thongs, might be for anyone a most beautiful example of the most valiant martyrdom, when one considers whether he would wish to be inferior to children who not only endured their own torments singly, but by beholding the torments of their brothers, exhibited a most keen and intense spirit of devotion. One of them, whom the Scripture has named the first, said to the tyrant: “What do you wish to ask and learn? For we are prepared to die rather than transgress the laws of our fathers.” What need is there to speak of what they endured, in frying pans and bronze pots set ablaze in order to torture them, when each had already suffered various trials? ^C For the one who is called the first was first deprived of his tongue, then he was scalped; and he bore this scalping just as others would bear the circumcision commanded by divine law, believing that in this also he was fulfilling the word of the covenant of God. But Antiochus, not satisfied with these things, ordered his hands and feet also to be severed, while the rest of his brothers and his mother looked on, punishing the brothers and the mother with this sight and thinking that by these things, which are reckoned so terrible, he would move them from their purpose. Thus, therefore, Antiochus, not satisfied with these, because he had become useless ^D as to his bodily structure through those things he had first suffered, commanded him, while still breathing, to be brought near to the fire that was in the frying pans and pots, and to be fried. As the odor was exhaled while the flesh of this most noble athlete of piety was being roasted by the inhuman tyrant, the others together with their mother exhorted one another to “die bravely,” and consoled themselves with the thought that God watches these things: for this belief was sufficient for them unto patience, that the eye of God is present with those who suffer. And truly He consoles them; for the athlete of piety, the judge of those of piety, being exhorted, and, if I may so name him, the...

rejoicing over those who rise above such great labors. It would be opportune for us, too, when we are in such straits, to say these same words to ourselves, in this manner: “The Lord God observes, and in His truths He consoles us.”

24. When the first had been tested in this way, “as gold in a furnace,” the second was led off to be mocked, and after his skin together with his hair had been pulled away, the ministers of the tyrannical cruelty called him to repentance, asking if he would eat the sacrificed meats before he should be punished with torture on his body limb by limb. But as he refused to repent, he was led to the next torment, keeping his courage firm even to his last breath. For, in no way broken, nor yielding to the pains, he said these things to that impious man: “You indeed, most wicked one, take from us the present life. But the King of the world will raise us up, who have died for His laws, to the resurrection of eternal life.” ^B

25. The third also, counting his pains as nothing, and because of his love for God trampling upon them, when asked for his tongue, quickly put it forward, and stretched out his hands courageously, and said: “Because of the laws of God I leave these behind, hoping to receive them back from God,” such as God would return to the athletes of piety toward Him. Likewise also the fourth was tortured, bearing the torments and saying that it is “preferable, when departing from men, to await the hope from God, to be raised up by Him again,” in a resurrection in which the tyrant will not be raised; for he will not rise to life, but to reproach and eternal shame. Next they tormented the fifth; he, looking upon Antiochus, reproached him for the reason that he, a man subject to corruption, nonetheless was arrogant, and thought his tyranny of a few days to be great power. He said also, even while in these straits, that his nation had not been abandoned by God, who in an unusual way was going to torture both Antiochus and his seed. After him the sixth, beginning to die, said: “Do not be deceived; we, paying the penalties for our own sins, in order that we might be purified in our torments, willingly suffer these things.” And he said to him that he must not think he would be unpunished, for attempting to fight against God; for he is a fighter against God who fights against those whom the Word has made gods.

26. Finally, Antiochus, taking the younger one into his hands, and being persuaded that he was the brother of those who made nothing of such great pains, and held the same resolve as they, had recourse ^A to other ways, thinking he could persuade him by exhortation and by affirming with an oath that he would make him rich and blessed, and that, having transferred him from his ancestral laws, he would have him as a friend and entrust him with royal business. [67. II Mach. VII, 24.] But since he achieved nothing, and the youth did not even pay attention from the beginning, as the words were clearly foreign to his own resolve, he called for the mother and exhorted her to become an advisor to the lad for his salvation [68. Ibid. 25.]. And she, having shown that she would persuade her son to what he wished, and mocking the tyrant, spoke many words to her son about patience, so that the youth, not awaiting the oncoming punishment, but anticipating it, challenged the executioners, saying: "Why do you delay and hesitate? We obey the law given by God; mandates contrary to divine discourses must not be accepted." Furthermore, as if he were some king pronouncing judgment ^B upon those judged under his authority, he pronounced judgment against the tyrant—judging him rather than being judged—and said that since he had laid hands upon the heavenly boys, he would not escape the judgment of the all-powerful and all-seeing God [70. Ibid. 35.].

27. It was possible then to see the mother enduring the tortures and deaths of her sons with a brave heart on account of her hopes in God; for the dew of piety and the spirit of holiness did not allow that fire of maternal love, which would have enflamed many mothers as if in the most grievous of evils, to be kindled in her inward parts. I think that I have most usefully proposed these things briefly from Scripture for the purpose at hand, so that we may see how much piety ^C and love for God—which is far more powerful than any other love—can accomplish against the harshest pains and most grievous torments.

28. What kind of martyrdom it is, and how much boldness it creates toward God, can also be understood from this. For the man who is holy is ambitious, and wishing to recompense the benefits that have come to him from God, he seeks what he might do for the Lord in return for all he has received from Him; and he finds nothing else that can be returned to God by a grateful human being as something equivalent to His benefits, other than dying in martyrdom. For it is written: "What shall I render unto the Lord for all that He has rendered unto me?" [71. Psal. cxv, 12.] And he adds, saying: "I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." Now, ^D martyrdom is accustomed to be called "the cup of salvation," as we find in the Gospel. When

^A those who wished to sit on the right and on the left of Jesus in his kingdom were seeking greater honor, the Lord said to them: "Can you drink the cup that I drink?" ^B calling "cup" his martyrdom, which is clear also from the passage: "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I will, but what thou wilt." But we learn that he who drinks that cup which Jesus drank shall also sit down with, and reign with, and judge along with the King of kings. This, therefore, is the cup of salvation, which he who receives shall call upon the name of the Lord. For "everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

But it is likely that someone, on account of the words, "Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me," might, by not having explored the intention of the Scripture, imagine that the Savior was in a manner fearful at the time of his passion; and if he was fearful, one might say, who then will be brave? But first we will ask those who suppose these things about the Savior whether he was lesser than the one who said: "The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the protector of my life, from whom shall I tremble? When those who do evil draw near to eat my flesh, those who afflict me and my enemies, they themselves were weakened and fell; if a camp sets itself in array against me, my heart shall not fear," and what follows. ^C Perhaps these words spoken by the Prophet relate to no one else but the Savior himself, who, because of the light and salvation he received from the Father, fears no one, and because of the protection with which God guarded him, trembles at nothing. His heart too in no way feared when the whole camp of Satan was arrayed against him; but his heart, filled with holy doctrines, hoped [in God] when war was rising up against him. Therefore, it does not belong to the same [person] both to say fearfully, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me," and to proclaim bravely, "If a camp sets itself in array against me, my heart shall not fear."

^A What follows, then, should not escape us in this passage; you will observe the pronoun of the cup referred to, which has been expressed by the three evangelists. For Matthew wrote that the Lord said: "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me"; Luke on the other hand: "Father, if you are willing, transfer this cup from me"; but Mark: "Abba Father, all things are possible for you; transfer this cup from me." Consider, therefore, if you are able, that when every martyrdom is called a martyrdom by Him, from whatever cause someone might depart this life, you can say that He did not refuse the genus of martyrdom when He said: "Let this cup pass from me" (for He would have said, "Let the cup pass from me"), but perhaps He refused that specific kind. And take note whether it is possible to say that the Savior, looking upon the various species—if I may put it so—of cups, and the things that would result for each, and grasping with a certain deep wisdom the differences, refused this particular kind of exit through martyrdom, but perhaps silently demanded another, more grievous one, so that through a different cup a more universal benefit, extending to more people, might be accomplished. And the Father’s will, which was wiser than the will of the Son, did not yet concede that this should happen, seeing matters regulated, as the Savior saw them, by a path and order. Clearly, in the Psalms, the Savior's cup is the death of the martyrs ^B. Therefore, to the words, "I will take the cup of salvation, and I will call upon the name of the Lord," these are added: "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." Death, therefore, arrives for us as something precious, as it does for the holy ones of God and those who are not unworthy; we do not die by a death that is common, if I may so speak, and devoid of piety, but we depart by that preeminent death which is brought about for the sake of the Christian religion and piety.

30. We ought also to remember our own sins; and that it is not possible to receive the forgiveness of sins without Baptism ^C; and that it is not possible, according to the evangelical laws, to be baptized again with water and the Spirit for the forgiveness of sins; and that according to the evangelical laws, one who endures all things brought upon him by those who mock him, and who, having endured all the things inflicted on him by his revilers, remained silent in his suffering, did not say that out of faint-heartedness, as some opine, but in order to provoke his adversary. For, having said before His death regarding death, even if this was so that He not be found a liar, He could not pray for the cup to pass, but by such a manner He challenges his adversary, so that the adversary, supposing that the Savior feared death, might bring death upon Him, and through this, by the economy of things, He might bring death to death for the salvation of those who are dying. Let us be mindful also of those things we have sinned; and that it is not ^D possible to receive the forgiveness of sins without Baptism; and that it is not possible...

to be baptized with water and the Spirit for the remission of sins, but that the baptism of martyrdom is given to us. ^A For so it is named, as is clear from the fact that to the words, "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?" it is subjoined, "Or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" Elsewhere also it is said, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am constrained until it is accomplished!" ^B And consider whether the baptism according to martyrdom, as it was a cleansing of the world for the Saviour, becomes also a healing that cleanses many. For just as those who, according to the law of Moses, were attending to the altar seemed to minister forgiveness of sins to others through the blood of bulls and goats, so the souls of those who have been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus do not attend in vain to the altar in heaven, but minister to those who pray for the forgiveness of sins. At the same time, we also know that, just as Jesus Christ the High Priest offered Himself as a sacrifice, so the priests, of whom He is the High Priest, offer themselves as a sacrifice, through which they are seen near the altar as if in their own place. But of the priests, some, being blameless and offering blameless sacrifices, healed the divine; while those defiled with the blemishes which Moses described in Leviticus were banished from the altar. But who is that blameless priest who offers a blameless sacrifice, if not he who confesses steadfastly, and completes the martyrdom absolute in all its parts, just as we have related above?

^C Let us not wonder, however, if such blessedness of the martyrs as is to be in the deepest peace, and in calm, and in quietness, must begin from something thought to be more grim, and, if I may so call it, a wintry condition. For it is necessary that he who is treading the narrow and constricted way in winter should first show forth the guidance that each of the blessed has acquired, so that after these things that which is in the Song of Songs may happen to the bride who has swum through the winter.

^A For He answers, He says, "My beloved speaks and says to me, 'Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful one, my dove; for behold, the winter has passed; the storm has gone, it has departed for itself.'" And you also remember that it is impossible to hear that "The winter has passed," unless you have strongly and steadfastly endured the present storm. But when the winter and the storm have passed and departed for themselves, "the flowers will appear." For "those planted in the house of the Lord will blossom in the courts of our God."

32. We also know this: that regarding us having been persuaded by Jesus to abandon idols and the impious worship of many gods, the enemy is unable to persuade us to engage in idolatry, but he wishes to compel us. This is the reason why he exercises such power as is given to him against those over whom he has it, and he will make those who are being tempted either martyrs or idolaters. Often even now he says, "All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me." Let us be on our guard, therefore, lest we commit idolatry and subject ourselves to demons; for the idols of the nations are demons. And what kind of thing is it, having abandoned the sweet yoke of Christ and His light burden, to subject oneself again to the yoke of demons and to bear the burden of a most heavy sin, after we have known that the heart of those serving idols is "ash," and their life is more base than clay, and after we have said that our fathers acquired false idols, and "there is no rain in them."

^C Not only long ago did Nebuchadnezzar set up the golden image; nor did he then only threaten Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, that if they did not worship it, he would cast them into the furnace of fire; but also now another Nebuchadnezzar says the same things to us, who are travelers and true Hebrews. But we, that we may experience the heavenly dew which extinguishes all fire from us, and which cools our ruling principle, let us imitate those holy youths. Perhaps even now Aman may wish that you, being other Mardocheis, should worship him; but you say: "I will not set human glory above the glory of the God of Israel." Let us overthrow Bel by the word of God,

and ^A let us slay the dragon with Daniel, so that, approaching the mouths of the lions, we may be able to suffer nothing from them; but let only those who are the causes of this present struggle for us be devoured by those same lions which cannot devour us.

34. Let us also observe this, that the things regarding martyrdom ^B are not prophesied by the Savior in the discourses spoken to the multitudes, but in those to the apostles. For after it was said: "These twelve Jesus sent forth, charging them, saying: 'Go not into any way of the Gentiles,'" and the rest, this is added: "But beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, be not anxious how or what ye shall speak; for it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you. And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child: and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death; and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the other; and if they persecute you out of this, flee into the next. Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have finished the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." ^C And Luke also writes similar things: "And when they bring you unto the synagogues and the magistracy and the powers, be not anxious how or what ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: for the Holy Spirit shall teach you what you ought to say." And after other things: "Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate beforehand how to answer; for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to withstand or to gainsay. But ye shall be delivered up even by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends; and they shall put some of you to death; and ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. And not a hair of your head shall perish. In your patience ye shall win your souls." Similar things also Mark says: "And when they lead you, delivering you up, be not anxious beforehand, nor study; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Spirit. ^D And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father his child: and children shall rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." But these things also in Matthew, being exhortations to martyrdom, are spoken not to others but to the twelve; which it will be our duty to hear, for if we hear them, we shall be brothers of the apostles who heard them, and shall be numbered with the apostles. And the words themselves are as follows: "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul, but"

rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." ^A Following these, the Lord teaches us that no one comes to the contest of martyrdom without divine providence. For it is said: "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing, and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father which is in heaven? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven." ^B To these correspond the words in Luke: "And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, fear him. Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows. Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: but he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God." And in another place: "For whosoever shall be ashamed ^C of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels." Those who slay us, kill the life of the body; (for such is the meaning of that: "Fear not them which kill the body," spoken in the same words by Matthew and Luke, and after they have killed the body, though they wish it, they cannot kill the soul; "neither have they any more that they can do.") For how could the soul be killed, which the very confession itself makes to live? When He who encourages us to martyrdom in Isaiah bears joint-witness to it, both He himself and His Son, where it is written: "Be ye my witnesses, and I am witness, saith the Lord God, and my servant whom I have chosen." ^D And observe this also, that it is not to the servants of Jesus, but to His friends that the commandment is given: "Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do." He is therefore to be feared who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. For He alone, after He has killed, has the power to cast into hell. And indeed, He will cast in those who have feared the slayers of bodies, and have not feared Him "who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell," and who, after He has killed, has the power to cast into hell. But if the hairs of the head of any other person are numbered—those, namely, who are cut off for the sake of Jesus—we shall confess the Son of God before God and men, and not before gods, so that He may recompense us in return.

^A Since he who has confessed us shall confess us before God and His Father, and he who has confessed the one who confessed him on earth, shall himself confess him in the heavens.

For who, having considered such things, would not exclaim that apostolic word: "The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us?" For how should the confession before the Father not be far greater than the confession before men? And how should the confession in the heavens, which He shall make of the one who is confessed, not excel beyond all measure the confession on earth, which the martyrs make of the Son of God? And if anyone who contemplates denying Him before men should remember Him who truthfully said: ^B "I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven."

It must also be observed that he who confesses the Son before men, as far as lies within him, commends Christianity and the author of this Christianity before those among whom he confesses; but he who is confessed by the Firstborn of all creation and the Son of man, is commended through the confession of the Son of God and the Son of man to the Father in the heavens and the angels of God. And if "not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth," how should one not deem him approved who is judged worthy to be commended before the Father in the heavens and before the angels of God? ^C And if he, and those who are like him—whom "as gold in the furnace" the Lord has "tried" by tortures and interrogations, and has accepted as a whole burnt offering of sacrifice—are approved, what must one say of those who, having been tested in the furnace of temptation, have denied, whom, as reprobate, He who denies one worthy of denial also denies before the Father in the heavens and before the angels of God?

And we must battle not only so as not to deny, but also not to be ashamed at all, even when the enemies of God think that we suffer shameful things—and especially if thou, ^D holy Ambrose, having been honorably regarded and received by very many cities, now art led in procession as a victim, bearing the cross of Jesus and following Him who goes before thee unto governors and kings, so that He Himself walking with thee, Himself may give to thee a mouth and wisdom; and thou, Protoctetus, his fellow-combatant, and your sharer in martyrdom, who "fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ," may He be with you to the paradise of God, showing how ye may pass by the cherubim and the "flaming sword which turned every way, and kept the way of the tree of life." For both these keep the way of the tree of life, and therefore guard it, lest

lest any unworthy person be permitted, by passing through them, to come to the tree of life. ^A For the flaming sword will restrain those who have built upon the foundation laid, [1 Cor. iii, 12] which is Jesus Christ, wood, or hay, or stubble—and the most ready and fit fuel to be kindled and burned, the wood, so to speak, of denial. But the cherubim will receive those who are not by nature such as to be curbed by the flaming sword, because they have built upon it nothing akin to it, and will guide them to the tree of life and to all the things [Gen. ii, 8, 9] which God planted in the east, and which he caused to spring from the earth. And as Jesus journeys with you to paradise, you will despise the serpent, who has been conquered and bruised under the feet of Jesus, and through him also under your feet, [Luc. x, 19] "seeing he has given you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, that nothing might injure you."

37. Therefore, the Son of God is not to be denied, nor is he nor his words to be treated as a cause for shame; but this must be heard: ^B "Whoever shall deny me before men, I also will deny him before my Father who is in heaven"; [Matth. x, 33] and that: "For whoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words," [Luc. ix, 26] the Son of man shall be ashamed of him, when he comes in his glory, and that of the Father, and of the holy angels. And Jesus once endured the cross, despising shame, and for this reason "sat down at the right hand of God." [Hebr. xii, 2] And his imitators also, as they despise shame, shall sit with him and reign with him in the heavens, with him, I say, who "came not to send peace upon the earth, but a sword." [Matth. x, 34] For since ^C "the word of God is living and effectual, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and reaching even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart," [Hebr. iv, 12] he now grants most of all to our souls as a reward that peace which surpasses all understanding, which he bequeathed to his own apostles; but he has cast a sword between the image of the earthy and the image of the heavenly, so that while in this present time we have put on our heavenly man, having later become worthy not to be divided, he may make us altogether heavenly. And not only did he come to send a sword upon the earth, but also fire, ^D of which he says: "What will I, if it be already kindled?" [Luc. xii, 49] Let this fire be kindled therefore in you also, consuming every earthly and body-loving thought of yours; and be baptized with the utmost eagerness with the baptism with which Jesus was straitened until it should be accomplished. And you, indeed, who have a wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, remember this word: "If any man comes to me, and does not hate his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, he cannot be my disciple." [Luc. xiv, 26]

But to both these is added: "If any man comes to me, and does not hate, besides the aforementioned, even his own soul also, he cannot be my disciple." But so hate your own soul, as by this hating to preserve it unto eternal life. "For he who hates," He says, "his own soul, preserves it unto eternal life." Therefore, hate your soul for the sake of eternal life, being persuaded that it is a good and useful hatred that Jesus teaches. But just as the soul must be hated by us in order that it may be preserved unto eternal life, so also, if you have a wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, hate them, that you may benefit those who are hated, gaining by that very act of hating the boldness to perform good deeds for them, having become a friend to God.

^B At the same time also, remember him who prayed in the Spirit for the children of the martyrs who had been left behind because of their love for God, and who said, "Take possession of the children of the dead." But you must know only this, "that it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God," and that just as it is said to those who are of the seed of Abraham at that time, "I know that you are the seed of Abraham," and, "If you were the children of Abraham, you would do the works of Abraham," so also it shall be said to your children: "I know that you are the seed of Ambrosius," and, "If you are the children of Ambrosius, do the works of Ambrosius." And perhaps they will do even more, being helped by your departure to such an end more than if you had remained with them; for then you will love them more understandingly, and you will pray for them more wisely, if you know that they are your children, and not just seed. Have now upon your lips this word: "He who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me," and that, "He who finds his soul shall lose it; and he who loses his soul for my sake shall find it."

^C Give place through your forwardness for martyrdom to the Spirit of your Father, who speaks to those who are betrayed for the sake of piety. If you know that you are hated, and held in abomination, and deemed to be impious, then take up this word: "On this account the world hates you, because you are not of this world; for if you were of this world, the world would love its own." Since you have endured many reproaches for Christ and many dangers from the time you believed, persevere until the end in your endurance; for, "He who endures to the end, the same shall be saved." You know that, according to Peter, "You shall rejoice for a little while now, if it is necessary, having been grieved in various trials, so that the testing of your faith, being much more precious than gold which perishes, and is tested through fire, may be found for praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus ^D Christ." But understand "having been grieved" in place of "having labored," as is clear also from the saying, "In sorrows you shall bring forth children." For a woman does not bring forth entirely in the sadness of a painful affection, but in labor. "For do not love," He says, "the world, nor the things in the world. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not..."

in him; for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away and the lust thereof." ^A Do not, therefore, love the things that pass away, but, by doing the will of God, become worthy to be one with the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit, according to the prayer of the Savior, who says: "As I and thou are one, that they also may be one in us." How many days, indeed, shall he gain who has loved the world or the things that are in the world, and has suffered loss to his own soul and destroyed it, and has borne about a conscience oppressed by the crime of denial, which is heavier than any burden? Let us each remember how often we have been in danger of dying by a common death; and let us consider whether we were perhaps preserved for this reason, that, having been baptized in our own blood and cleansed of all sin, we might keep company at the heavenly altar with those who have struggled in like manner.

B 40. But if anyone, yielding either to an excessive love of life or to an impatience with labors, or to arguments that might appear cunningly persuasive when spoken by those who try to lead us to worse things, should deny that there is one God and His Christ, while confessing demons or fortunes, let him know that he, in preparing a table for a demon and filling a cup for fortune, has forsaken the Lord; and since he has forgotten His holy mountain, he will be subject to that rebuke which Isaiah wrote in this manner: "But you who have forsaken me ^C and have forgotten my holy mountain, and prepare a table for a demon, and fill a mixture for fortune; I will deliver you to the sword; all of you shall fall in the slaughter, because I called you and you did not obey; I spoke and you disregarded, and you did evil in my sight, and you chose the things which I did not desire. Therefore, thus says the Lord: Behold, those who serve me shall eat; but you shall hunger. Behold, those who serve me shall be glad; but you shall be ashamed. Behold, those who serve me shall exult in gladness; but you shall cry out for the pain of heart, and you shall wail from the breaking of spirit; for you shall leave your name for a satiety to my chosen; but the Lord shall slay you." But if, understanding what is the table ^D of the Lord, we desire to be partakers of it, let us also know this: "You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of demons." Who, moreover, hearing the son of thunder, John, saying, "Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father; he who confesses the Son also has the Father," would not be afraid, on account of saying he is not a Christian, to deny the Son, so that by denying Him he might not have the Father either? Who rather would not seek, both by works and by words, to show himself a Chri-

Christian, so that he might also have the Father? For those who confess have the Father.

If we have passed ^A “from death unto life” through passing from unbelief to faith, let us not marvel if the world hates us. For no one who has not passed from death unto life, but remains in death, can love those who have passed from the shadowy house—if I may so call it—of death, into the dwellings filled with the living stones of the light of life. “Jesus laid down His soul for us,” and let us, therefore, lay ours down—I will not say for Him, but for ourselves; though I think even for those who are to be built up by our martyrdom. The time for us to boast as Christians is at hand. “For not only,” he says, “but we also boast in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, probation; and probation, hope; and hope does not make ashamed; only let the love of God be shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Let Paul say: “If after the manner of men I fought with beasts at Ephesus,” but we shall say: “If after the manner of men I was put to death in Germany.”

If ^B “as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so by Christ does our consolation also abound,” let us most readily accept the sufferings of Christ, and let them abound in us, if we desire the abundant consolation which all who mourn shall obtain; perhaps not equally: for if the consolation were equal, it would not have been written: “As the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so does our consolation also abound.” Those who are partners of the sufferings, according to the proportion of the sufferings which they share with Christ, will also be partners of the consolation. This you learn from him who confidently said: “Knowing that as you are partners of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation.” And God says through the prophet: “In an acceptable time I have heard thee, and in the day of salvation I have helped thee.” What other time then is more acceptable than when, on account of our piety toward God in Christ, we walk under guard ^C in a procession in the world, and rather than being triumphed over, we triumph as we are led away? For the martyrs of Christ, together with Him, put off the principalities and powers, and together with Him they triumph over them, so that when they have been partners of the sufferings, ^D and our doctrine stands firm. Such Origen was, as Gregory Thaumaturgus teaches in his Panegyric: “He did not go through the things concerning the virtues for us in words, but he exhorted us rather to works; and he exhorted more by his works than by what he said.” “Desiring to work something, they (the pagans) make an evil thing, a craft of words, and not a demonstration of works,” having done the matter, “they do not commemorate words, but show forth good deeds.” And: “Not by the study of words, but by the demonstration and teaching of works are we to be judged.”

^A And they triumph together, as having become fellow-partakers of his sufferings, so also of those courageous deeds of his in his sufferings; from among which is also the triumphing over the principalities and powers, which after a little while you shall see conquered and overpowered. What other day is a day of salvation in the same way as the day of our departure from here in such a manner? But I beseech you, give no offense in anything, that the ministry be not blamed; but in all things approve yourselves as the ministers of God in much patience, saying: “And now what is my patience? Is it not the Lord?” being persuaded that “many are the afflictions of the righteous,” in necessities, that we may claim as necessary for us that blessedness; in distresses, that, traveling unceasingly the strait and narrow way, we may arrive at life. If there be need, let us approve ourselves in labors, in watchings, in fastings. “For behold the Lord, and the reward is in his hand, to render to each one according as his works are.”

43. Now let us show that we have desired a knowledge through works befitting that knowledge. Let all purity be manifested in us; as sons of a long-suffering God, and brothers of a long-suffering Christ, let us be long-suffering in all things that happen to us. “For a long-suffering man is great in prudence; but the faint-hearted is very foolish.” If it is necessary to commend oneself “by the armor ^B of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,” having commended ourselves through glory, and not having been puffed up by it, let us now patiently bear dishonor; and although we have ordered our lives in a manner worthy of “a good report” and have been well spoken of, let us now endure the disrepute cast upon us by the ungodly. Furthermore, if as “truthful” we have been admired by those who love the truth, now when we are called “deceivers,” let us smile. On account of the many dangers from which we have been delivered, many have said that we are “known” by God; now let anyone who wishes say that we are “unknown,” when perhaps we are more truly known. Bearing, therefore, what happens, we are “chastened, but not killed,” and we are made like ^C to those who are sorrowful, yet [are] rejoicing.

44. Paul says somewhere to those who had suffered from the beginning, exhorting them to persevere in accordance with their former patience in bearing second dangers brought on for the sake of the Word: “But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions; partly, whilst ye were made a gazingstock both by reproaches and afflictions; and partly, whilst ye became companions of them that were so used. For ye had compassion in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance. Cast not ^D away therefore your confidence, which hath great

^A remuneration. For you have need of patience. Let us also, therefore, now sustain the contest ^B of sufferings, being made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men, in reproaches and tribulations, and receiving with joy the spoiling of our goods; for we are persuaded that we have a better substance, not earthly, nor indeed corporeal, but something invisible and incorporeal. ^C «For we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.»

But since some, not perceiving the doctrine concerning the demons, and ^D how, for the sake of remaining in this dense and circumjacent air, they have need of nourishment through the exhalations, observe where there is a savor or vapor, ^A they deny that they are spiritual beings, which fact ought to have been understood even from their food,—blood and smoke, and the putrid funeral pyres of cattle, and the most impure tongues of their own prophets. Hence, 1. *De idol.*, c. 7: "He calls the demon a spirit of the vilest odor." See the same author's book, *Ad Scapulam*, c. 2.

Athenagoras, in *Legatio pro Christianis*, p. 33: "Those who are drawn toward the idols are the aforementioned demons, who are smeared with the blood of the sacrifices and lick it up." And p. 54: "The demons who are around the matter are gluttonous concerning the odors and the blood of the sacrifices." They who dwell around the idols are the aforementioned demons, clinging to the blood of the sacrifices, and licking it up on every side. And: "Those material demons, the lickers of the odors and blood of the sacrifices."

Gregory Nazianzen, *Orat.* 4, *Adv. Julian.*: "The gluttonous and deceitful demons no longer hold sway." And *Orat.* 18, regarding the demon to whose ministry Cyprian resorted to corrupt Justina: "The reward of this procurement was sacrifices and libations, and the intimacy through blood and odor. For such had to be the rewards for those who grant such things." The wages of this pimping were the victims and libations, and that affinity which is contracted with him through blood and the odor of sacrifices. For it was necessary to pay such a reward to those who had rendered benefits of this kind.

Arnobius, l. III, *Cont. gentes*, p. 114: "For unless they receive incense and salted fruits, the gods cannot do good; and unless they see their little altars smeared with the blood of cattle, they desert and cast off their guardian offices." The same, l. V, p. 156: "And what pray was that divine matter which compelled Jupiter to be diverted from the impulse of such great affairs, and to present himself to the denunciations of mortals? Salted meal, incense, blood, the burning of verbenae, and the murmurings of terrible names?" Ibid., p. 169: "Liber, having been cut limb from limb by the Titans and cast into little pots to be boiled, Jupiter, lured by the sweetness of the odor, was invoked and flew down to the meal." But l. VI, p. 212, he discourses on this matter in such a way that he appears to be in doubt: "Could it be that the celestial gods are nourished by these sacrifices, and that there is some need for the substitution of matter to maintain their composition?" A little later, where he has denied it, he proceeds: "For whatever is supported by external causes and things must necessarily be mortal and have a ready path to danger whenever something used for life begins to be lacking. Then, because we see that nothing from these things which are moved to the altars reaches or arrives at the substances of the divinities—the blood is licked up by dogs—unless perhaps God devours the souls of the victims, or hunts for the odor and smokes from burning altars, and feeds on the fat, which the burning entrails vomit forth, still moist with blood and damp with the initial juices. But if God, as is said, is of no body, and is untouched by any contact, how can it be that an incorporeal being is nourished by corporeal things; which...

^A they consider to be a matter of indifference, and count for little, where there is soot, and blood, and frankincense? We might reply to this, that if those who provide food to robbers, and murderers, and the barbarian enemies of the great king are punished as those who have committed an offense against the state, how much more shall those who, by sacrificing, give food to the ministers of wickedness—food which keeps them confined to this earthly region—be most justly accused? And this is especially true of those who have learned [the command]: "He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed" [Exod. XXII, 20]. I think that those who, by sacrificing, turn towards the demons those who perform acts of wickedness against men, will be held no less guilty than the demons themselves who commit the evils; for it is as if the demons and those who keep them on earth had performed the evils together; for they would not be able to sustain themselves without the fumigations and what are supposed to be the appropriate foods for their bodies ^B.

Appropriate foods for their bodies.

[alt-version omitted]

^B It is evident from various places in Scripture that it was thought God desires sweet odors and sacrifices: in particular from Psalm XLIX (according to the LXX, but Hebrew L), 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, where he significantly says: "If I were hungry, I would not tell thee," and "Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" This opinion, which not infrequently occupied the minds of the Jews, God most severely refuted through his prophets; and again and again he removed the whole pomp of sacrifices very far from himself [1 Sam. XV, 22; Isa. I, 11-13, and LXVI, 3; Amos V, 21, 22, etc.]. WETSTENIUS.

Note on the hypothesis, relying on which Origen asserts that demons are nourished: namely, because they have bodies and are corporeal.

^A and oppressed by earthly stains and desires; these spirits, therefore, after they had lost the simplicity of their own substance, being weighed down and immersed in vices, do not cease to ruin those already ruined, as a consolation for their own calamity." Plato asserts shortly after that their substance is midway between body and spirit, compounded of the mixture of earthly weight and celestial lightness. Macarius, Hom. 4, 21: "Each one according to its nature is a body, whether it be an angel, or a soul, or a demon; for although these are thin, nevertheless in substance, character, and representation, they are thin bodies in accordance with the subtlety of their nature, just as this body here is thick in substance." Augustine does not seem to have abhorred this opinion (which he proves to have been that of the Platonists from Apuleius' book *On the God of Socrates*). Consult Book VIII of *The City of God*, chapters 14 and 15, and Book XXI, chapter 10, near the end, and especially the commentary of Ludovicus Vives on Book XV, chapter 23, where he is said to have followed all the Platonists, then Origen, Lactantius, Basil, and the consensus of those writing almost in his own time. Isidore, in *Etymologies*, Book VIII, 11: "Demons thrive by the nature of airy bodies; before the transgression they indeed possessed celestial bodies; but having fallen, they were turned into an ^B airy quality." Bede, in the aforementioned place, does not indeed state that they consist of body, but that demons assume for themselves airy bodies; but in Vol. IV, Book III, on Job, chapter 10, p. 861, by the body of the devil he understands all his associates and the unclean spirits; these, he says, are so joined to him by such consent and conspiracy that they are coupled to him by an indissoluble connection. I marvel at one thing: why St. Jerome, among the errors of Origen recounted in his letter to Avitus, should have included this as well: "That rational creatures have fallen into earthly bodies due to negligence," when we have heard above Jerome himself asserting that demons are fed and fattened on blood; which cannot happen if bodies are taken away from them. I have no doubt that if Rufinus had observed this passage, he would have retorted it against Jerome. WETSTENIUS.

(53) *To worship the first God*. Thus Origen calls the true God, the first God, the God over all. Arnobius, Book I, *Against the Gentiles*, calls God "first God," "superior God." In Book I, he speaks thus: "To perform the worship of divinity, the first God is enough for us; the first God, I say, the Father of things and Lord, the founder and moderator of all things." I deem this worthy of being recorded, that Simon Magus, that detestable father of heretics, not content with the simple name of God, wished to be adored as the "first God," according to the testimony of Eusebius proving it. "First" is the same as "prince" or "superior," even among other authors. Virgil, Book I, *Aeneid*, v. 24: *And mindful of the old Saturnian war,* *The first which she for cherished Argos waged at Troy.* To which Servius says in his commentary: "First, prince ^C and 46. Again, certain people, thinking that names are by human institution, and have no connection in nature with those whose names they are, think it makes no difference if someone should say: 'I worship the first God, or Zeus, or Jove'; or even if he should say: 'I take up and venerate the sun or Apollo, and the moon or Diana, and the spirit which is contained in the earth,' or that it ought to be accepted. But truly, regarding who the highest God is for the pagans, the same Servius in his commentary on the *Aeneid*, p. 527, hands down this: 'It must be known that for the quality of things or persons, the "highest God" is named, or the "Father." For everyone thinks him to be the highest God whom he worships: as "Highest God, holy guardian of Soractis, Apollo."'" WETSTENIUS.

(54) *Or Zeus, or Jove*. It was an ethnic error to designate, or rather to disgrace, God with the name of Jove. Hence Celsus, "The great God is the highest, Zeus...," [it] differs nothing, Book V *Against Celsus*, no. 41; and Arnobius, Book V *Against the Gentiles*, p. [173]: "Jove, whom you call the prince of God, and the creator of all things that are." And Aristeas, Book *On the translation of the LXX*, page [13]: "naming otherwise Zeus." They (the Jews) worship the same God as the inspector and creator of all, whom also all other men and we in particular [worship], but naming him otherwise, we call him Jove. But Origen, just as he everywhere demonstrated a singular zeal for vindicating the honor of God, did not cease being like himself here; keenly contending that the supreme God should never be called by the name of Jove, or of any other of the gods of the nations; nay rather, one should sooner die and undergo martyrdom. He inculcates this throughout, repeats it, urges it, as a matter of the highest moment. Book IV *Against Celsus*, no. 48: "For these reasons and similar tales, we are offended, and in no way do we tolerate the maximum God being called by the name of Jove, nor the sun by that of Apollo, nor the moon by the word [for] Diana: but by exercising pure piety toward the Creator, and praising his most beautiful works, we do not even by name contaminate divine things." Book IV *Against Celsus*, no. 25: "How much more to be approved is the piety of the Christians, who deem it an unworthy thing to accommodate any word celebrated in the fables of the poets to the Creator of all things?" And a little earlier: "We shall maintain this by reason, even unto death, struggling that we might not call Jove [God], and that we might not name him in another language." He brings forward principally three reasons for this matter: The first is, because these are the names of demons, and so they are by no means to be imposed upon God; and the snare of the devil aims at this, that he may be adored under the name of God. Hence, in the text he says ^D: "It is no wonder that demons impose their own names upon the supreme God, so that they may be adored as the 'first God'." And in Book V *Against Celsus*, no. 46: "For these things we choose to undergo every torture rather than to confess Jove to be God; for it is not [that it is] the same..."

to believe that Jove and Sabaoth are the same; nay, not even that Jove is God at all, but some demon who delights in being called by this name, who is hostile to men and an enemy to the true God." ^B Or ^C Ceres, and whatever other things the wise men of the Greeks say. To whom it must be said that there is also a most profound and recondite discussion concerning names, which he who understands will see that, if names were by convention, the so-called demons would never have obeyed—not that they understand those [names], but, as they are invoked by those who do not know the demons, they are nevertheless named as if the names were set by convention. But now certain sounds and syllables, and names uttered with aspiration or without, with extension or contraction, perhaps lead those who are called by some bond of nature unknown to us. If this is so, and names are not by convention, the most high God must not be called by any other name than those by which His Servant, and the prophets, and the Savior Himself and our Lord name Him; such as Sabaoth, Adonai, Saddai, and again: the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. ^D

The descriptive title by which each nation has been reared to call upon God—one who uses this will not go astray. ^A We are moved to consider whether the matter is understood in this way also in the case of the *Servant* (56). God has sent a prudent servant, Moses, to them. "He, the servant of God." "Moses indeed was faithful in all His house, as a servant."

[Latin Column commentary and further extracts on the nomenclature of God:] Regarding Ceres and whatever other things the wise men of the Greeks say. To whom it must be said that there is a most deep and hidden disputation concerning names, which whoever has understood, will see that, if names existed by appointment, it would never have come to pass that those who are called demons and other powers invisible to us would obey when invoked by those who, though they do not know them, yet name them, as if they were names set by appointment. But now, names uttered as certain sounds and syllables, and with aspiration, or thinly, or with extension or contraction, perhaps lead those who are called by some bond of nature possibly unknown to us. But if it is so, and names are not from appointment, the supreme God is to be called by no other name than those by which the Servant, and the prophets, and the Savior Himself and our Lord name Him, as for example Sabaoth. Quapropter we endure any tortures whatsoever rather than confess Jove to be God; for we do not believe the same to be Jove and Sabaoth; indeed, we believe Jove is not even God, but a certain demon who delights in this name, hostile to men and an enemy to the true God. Cyril of Alexandria agrees with Origen, *Against Julian*, Bk. VII, p. 256, who, to one naming Jove, Mars, the Muses, Aesculapius, and other gods, answers: "Therefore, let painters ready with their hands and artisans in stone proclaim them gods, who are by no means gods, but rather impure demons or ruined men." Walafriodus Strabo, *On Ecclesiastical Matters*, ch. 1: "We acknowledge that the pagans made temples to their gods, or rather to their demons, their seducers, not only from their own books, but also from the testimonies of Divine Scripture." Secondly, Adamantius urges the power of names and voices, which signify by nature, not by human appointment; and that those which were attributed to God by Moses and holy men, without doubt have a singular efficacy in themselves, and thus a danger arises, lest names inferior be applied to superior things, and superior to inferior (cf. *Against Celsus*, Bk. I, no. 25). He proves that names signify by nature from their efficacy in exorcisms, in which the name of Jesus is seen to have cast out innumerable demons from bodies and souls. Thus, in incantations it is not permitted to change names if they are to be effective. For the rest, with a view to the most shameful deeds and obscene fables falsely attributed by poets and philosophers to their gods, he thought it should by no means be tolerated that the names of these should be given to the most holy God. *Against Celsus*, Bk. IV: "What need is there for me to enumerate the absurd histories of the Greeks concerning their gods, shameful in the first place, even when they are explained allegorically?" Wherefore we, offended by these and similar fables, in no way suffer the greatest God to be called by the name of Jove. ^D Concerning the Servant: this title is attributed to Moses. I have observed a unique parallel passage where he is simply called thus in the *Excerpts* on Genesis, to ch. 1, et seq.: "He knows us, and whether the matter is understood in this way also in the case of the Servant." Elsewhere he uses the name with an addition: as "prophet of God and his servant"; Bk. I *Against Celsus*, no. 41: "Prophet of God and his servant"; Bk. V *Against Celsus*, no. 29: "Prophet of God and his true servant." Tertullian simply designates Moses by this name, *Against Marcion*, Bk. V, p. 474: "For to this end He said to the Servant: Let me alone that I may destroy them." Apollinarius on Psalm CV: "But to them God sends the prudent servant Moses." Epiphanius, *Heresy* 48, and Chrysostom, Vol. V, from the beginning: "That servant of God." Cassiodorus, *Divine Readings*, ch. 28, p. 917: "He is called the most faithful servant of God." All these imitated the Holy Apostle, Heb. iii, 5, who speaks thus:

Jacob. ^A For this, he says, is an everlasting name, and a memorial to generations of generations. Now, it is not to be wondered at if the demons refer their own names to the first God, so that He might be worshipped as the first God; a thing which for our Servant, and for the prophets, and for the Christ—the ^B fulfillment of the law—and for His apostles, is not customary. We have set these matters forth necessarily, so that no one might outwit us, or, to any extent, pollute our reasoning with those things which, if they be carefully heeded, afford no place for the inroads of our adversaries.

Furthermore, man is also a lover of life, having received a conviction concerning the essence of the rational soul, as having something akin to God; for both are intellectual and invisible, and, as ^B the prevailing argument demonstrates, incorporeal. Moreover, why would the One who fashioned us plant in us a yearning for piety toward Him and for communion with Him—He who preserves even in those who are in error certain traces of the divine will—if it were not possible for those endowed with reason to attain that which is naturally desired? And it is manifest that, just as each of our members is naturally suited to maintain an affinity for something—the eyes for visible things, and the ears for audible things—so the mind ^C is suited for intelligible things and for God, who is beyond the intelligible. Why, then, do we hesitate and waver, putting aside the corruptible body that hinders us, weighing down the soul, and burdening the mind with excess care—a terrestrial tabernacle—to be freed from these bonds, and to be loosed from the waves of flesh and blood, so that we may, with Christ Jesus, attain the proper [calling] to the testimony of the things spoken?

^D As for the name Abraham, it is translated *Pater excelsus* (Father excelsior), and afterwards he was called Abraham, which is translated *Pater multarum* (Father of many). For that which follows "of nations" is not contained in the name. Whence, therefore, Origen drew this is to be questioned. Clement of Alexandria says that Abraham is so named for having become a wise man and a lover of God, in place of one who investigates nature. For it is expounded as "Father, elect sound." For the Word that has come to pass makes a sound to him. Therefore, Origen drew this from his teacher Clement; however, both, as with other things, drew it from Philo Judaeus. Thus, in his book *De Gigantibus*, he says: Abraham is interpreted as "Father elect of sound," i.e., "the intellect of a righteous man." For he is elect, and purged, and "father of the voice" with which we harmonize. As far as I can conjecture, Origen thought the name was compounded from these three words: *Ab*, father; *Bar*, world or pure; *Ram*, purged, elect, and *Ham*, grew noisy, roared. Bede, in *Nominibus Hebraicis*, wants Abraham to mean the same as "father seeing the people," or "father seeing a multitude," or "father of a multitude," or "father of many"—"of nations" is understood, for it is not in the name. The latter was taken from Jerome. The first refers to these Hebrew words: *Ab raah am*, "father seeing the people." The second is derived from these: *Ab raah ham*, "father seeing a multitude." Which of these has truly hit the mark, those skilled in Hebrew letters will easily judge. WETSTENIUS.

^A being altogether and in every part contemplating the living Word and being nourished by Him, and laying hold of that most manifold wisdom in Him, and being fashioned by the Truth itself, and having the mind illuminated in the true and unfailing light of knowledge, we are enabled ^B to gaze at those things which are naturally to be seen by that light, through eyes illuminated by the command of the Lord; let us rest in the rest of blessedness.

48. Long ago we heard the words of Jesus, and for a long time we have been conducting our lives according to the Gospel, and all of us have built ourselves a house. But where have we built? Whether upon the rock—having dug and gone deep—or upon the sand without a foundation, the present struggle will show. For the storm is upon us, "bringing rain and floods and winds," or, as Luke calls it, "an inundation"; and these, when they dash against the house, will not be strong enough to shake it, and therefore the house will not fall, since it is founded upon the rock, Christ. Or, they will demonstrate the weakness of the building, which will collapse when the occasion arises—may this be far from our buildings! For "great" is the ruin in the denial, or, as Luke says, "a great breach" of the building that lacks a foundation. Wherefore let us pray that we may be likened to "a wise man who built his house upon the rock." For let there come upon such a building the rain "sent by the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places," or the rivers of our enemies, the "principalities and powers," or the "harsh winds" from the "world-rulers of this darkness," or the flood of the subterranean spirits, and let them dash themselves against our building founded upon the rock; so that not only may our house not fall, but let it not even be shaken from the beginning, and let them experience our strength rather than inflict their own. Let each of us also say, while striking our adversaries: "So I fight, not as one beating the air."

308 49. Furthermore, since "the sower went out to sow," let us demonstrate that our soul has received his seed, not as those who are "beside the way," nor as the "stony ground," nor as the "thorns," but as the "good earth." If, therefore, the word of Jesus has not come "beside the way," nor "upon the thorns," then, as far as it depends on us, we shall glory in the Lord. For we have understood the word. Wherefore the evil one has not snatched away what was sown in our hearts. ^C And that it was not sown upon the thorns, many will be witnesses to us, as many as see that neither the care of this age, nor the deceitfulness of riches, nor the pleasures of life have been able to withstand the word of God received in our souls. It remains for men to doubt whether, as far as it was in us, the word of God has come upon the stony ground or upon the good earth. For tribulation and persecution have arisen because of the word, and the time of great ^D temptation is upon us, when he who is sown upon the stony ground is revealed, and those who have not deepened...

^A their roots, nor received Jesus into the deepest parts of their soul. But he who understands the word brings forth fruit, and keeps the word unto the end in patience, making a hundredfold. For we hear in what manner the Scripture represents those who are scandalized in time of tribulation or persecution, after they appeared to have received the holy teachings with joy, and are scandalized because they do not have a root, but believe only for a time. For it says according to Matthew: "But he who is sown upon the stony ground, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it; yet he has no root in himself, but is temporal; and when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, he is immediately scandalized." According to Mark: "These are they who are sown upon the stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately with joy receive it, and they have no root in themselves, but are temporal; then when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, they are immediately scandalized." According to Luke: "But those upon the rock, who, when they have heard, with joy receive the word; and these have no root; who for a time believe, and in time of temptation fall away." Regarding those who bring forth fruit well, teaching us, the Scripture says: "But he who was sown into the good ground, this is he who hears the word and understands, who indeed brings forth fruit and produces, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." Or: "And these are they who are sown into good ground, who hear the word and receive it, and bring forth fruit, one thirty, and one sixty, and one a hundred." Or: "But that in the good ground, these are they who in a good and ^B honest heart, having heard the word, keep it and bring forth fruit in patience."

Since, therefore, according to the Apostle, "You are God’s husbandry, God’s building," let there be husbandry in the good ground, and building upon the rock. As the building of God, let us stand unshaken against the storm; and as the husbandry of God, let us not care for the evil one, nor for tribulation or persecution which arise because of the word, nor for the anxiety of this age, or the deceitfulness of riches, or the pleasures of life; but despising all these things, let us take up the care-free spirit of wisdom, and let us hasten toward the riches which have no deceit, and let us hurry toward the pleasures, if I may so call them, of the paradise of delights. Let us reckon in every hardship this: "For our momentary and light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." ^C And let us know this also, that what is said regarding Abel who was killed by the murderer and unjust Cain, to all these...

whose blood has been unjustly poured out, applies. For that "The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground," let us deem it to be said also concerning each of the martyrs, whose voice of blood crieth unto God from the earth. Perhaps also, just as we have been bought with the precious blood of Jesus, after Jesus received "the name which is above every name," so too might some be bought with the precious blood of the martyrs; and they would have been exalted even more than they were if they had been righteous but had not been martyrs. For it is logical for the death which is specifically in martyrdom to be called "exaltation," as is evident from the passage: "If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men unto myself." Let us therefore also glorify God, having exalted Him by our own death; since he who undergoes martyrdom glorifies ^B God by his own death. This is also what we have learned from John's statement: "This he said, signifying by what manner of death he should glorify God." These things have been dictated to you by me to the best of my ability, as much as was possible, and I pray that they may prove useful to you for the present contest. And if you—most of all now, as being worthy to see more of the mysteries of God—perceive greater and richer things, and things more effective for the task at hand, and should disdain these as childish and trivial, I would indeed pray for this same thing regarding you; for it is proposed ^C to you that you should be even more exalted than if you had only been righteous. For it is fitting that the death which is undergone in martyrdom should be called an exaltation, as the words "If I be lifted up from the earth" imply, where, instead of "to be crucified," he says "to be lifted up," as if to say, "if I be lifted up on the cross." ^D