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A Letter from Origen to Africanus

Origen of Alexandria

Section 14

About this work

Origen responds to Julius Africanus’s objections to the story of Susanna, defending its ecclesial use and discussing textual differences between Greek and Hebrew forms of Daniel.

Author: Origen of Alexandria
Date: c. AD 240
Origin: Caesarea
Genre: Letter

14. But you say, “How could they

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who

were

in

captivity

pass

sentence

of

death

?

”

asserting

,

I

know

not

on

what

grounds

,

that

Susanna

was

the

wife

of

a

king

,

because

of

the

name

Joakim

.

The

answer

is

,

that

it

is

no

uncommon

thing

,

when

great

nations

become

subject

,

that

the

king

should

allow

the

captives

to

use

their

own

laws

and

courts

of

justice

.

Now

,

for

instance

,

that

the

Romans

rule

,

and

the

Jews

pay

the

half

-

shekel

to

them

,

how

great

power

by

the

concession

of

Cæsar

the

ethnarch

has

;

so

that

we

,

who

have

had

experience

of

it

,

know

that

he

differs

in

little

from

a

true

king

!

Private

trials

are

held

according

to

the

law

,

and

some

are

condemned

to

death

.

And

though

there

is

not

full

licence

for

this

,

still

it

is

not

done

without

the

knowledge

of

the

ruler

,

as

we

learned

and

were

convinced

of

when

we

spent

much

time

in

the

country

of

that

people

.

And

yet

the

Romans

only

take

account

of

two

tribes

,

while

at

that

time

besides

Judah

there

were

the

ten

tribes

of

Israel

.

Probably

the

Assyrians

contented

themselves

with

holding

them

in

subjection

,

and

conceded

to

them

their

own

judicial

processes

.