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A Letter from Origen to Africanus

Origen of Alexandria

Section 9

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

9. But probably to this you will say

‹ Section 8 Section 10 ›

,

Why

then

is

the

“

History

”

not

in

their

Daniel

,

if

,

as

you

say

,

their

wise

men

hand

down

by

tradition

such

stories

?

The

answer

is

,

that

they

hid

from

the

knowledge

of

the

people

as

many

of

the

passages

which

contained

any

scandal

against

the

elders

,

rulers

,

and

judges

,

as

they

could

,

some

of

which

have

been

preserved

in

uncanonical

writings

(

Apocrypha

)

.

As

an

example

,

take

the

story

told

about

Esaias

;

and

guaranteed

by

the

Epistle

to

the

Hebrews

,

which

is

found

in

none

of

their

public

books

.

For

the

author

of

the

Epistle

to

the

Hebrews

,

in

speaking

of

the

prophets

,

and

what

they

suffered

,

says

,

“

They

were

stoned

,

they

were

sawn

asunder

,

they

were

slain

with

the

sword

.

”

To

whom

,

I

ask

,

does

the

“

sawn

asunder

”

refer

(

for

by

an

old

idiom

,

not

peculiar

to

Hebrew

,

but

found

also

in

Greek

,

this

is

said

in

the

plural

,

although

it

refers

to

but

one

person

)

?

Now

we

know

very

well

that

tradition

says

that

Esaias

the

prophet

was

sawn

asunder

;

and

this

is

found

in

some

apocryphal

work

,

which

probably

the

Jews

have

purposely

tampered

with

,

introducing

some

phrases

manifestly

incorrect

,

that

discredit

might

be

thrown

on

the

whole

.

Notes

13
Heb. xi. 37.