“Let us enter the contest to win perfectly not only outward martyrdom, but also the martyrdom that is in secret.” (Exhortation. to Martyrdom, Ch. 21)
There is no direct information about Origen. We know about him from Eusebius, Jerome, Photius, Gregory Thaumaturgus and some of his students in Caesarea. He was born in the year 185 CE to a Christian family in Alexandria and enjoyed a Christian upbringing. When his father suffered martyrdom during Septimus Severus’ persecution in 201, he too desired the same but was restrained by his mother. His family’s possessions were confiscated and he began a school to provide for his mother and six younger brothers. Given his zeal, the bishop of Alexandria entrusted him with the task of instructing catechumens. He traveled to various places preaching the gospel and was held in high esteem. His episcopal friends ordained him and this invited the ire of his bishop Demetrius, who expelled him from the country. He went to Caesarea in Palestine, where he began a new school. During the persecution of Decian in 250/52 he was imprisoned and tortured. The authorities tried to make him recant his faith in public, but to no avail. He was set free, but his health was broken and he died around the year 254.
Origen was a prolific writer, who was condemned by the Church two centuries after his death. His genius was, however, recognized during the Renaissance and the 20th century reinstated him to the position he deserves. Hans Urs von Balthasar would call him as ‘towering a figure as Augustine and Aquinas.’ He combined personal holiness, great intellectual ability and a universal openness to all currents of thought. He was passionate in his search for the truth and firmly believed that the fullness of truth can only be found in Christ. A major contribution of Origen was the scholarly contemplation of Scripture, with his six-column edition of the Old Testament, Hexapla, being an important work. He is known as the father of ‘allegorical’ interpretation and looked upon exegesis as a religious experience. Though he was strongly influenced by Plato, he viewed the divine-human relationship in terms of concrete historical processes, rather than a world of unchanging spiritual realities. Besides Scripture, his other works included an apologetic work Contra Celsum, a monumental theological work of four volumes, De Principiis, a treatise on prayer titled, On Prayer, a commentary on the Songs of Songs where his spiritual theology is expounded and, finally, a work that extolls martyrdom, titled Exhortation to Martyrdom.
The initial quote from the Exhortation to Martyrdom was in the context of the persecution faced by the early Christian communities. They believed martyrdom to be the true and perfect form of discipleship. Martyrdom resulted in: a) the perfect imitation of Christ and b) the perfection of Christian wisdom. Authentic discipleship always involved some kind of death and hence the ascetic and martyr were presented as spiritual persons within the church. This is why Origen spoke of an ‘outward martyrdom’ as well as a ‘martyrdom which is secret.’
The spirituality of explicit and secret martyrdom is as relevant to us today as it was in the 3rd century. Though millions have embraced ‘outward’ martyrdom during the last century, such martyrdom is not the calling of most Christians. All are, however, called to the ‘secret martyrdom,’ where one bears witness to one’s faith by swimming against the current and standing up for the values of the Kingdom of God. The personal witness and writings of Origen offer us an inspiration to live our daily martyrdom – our daily kenosis of dying to oneself in order to live for Christ.
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