Rufinus's Version of Eusebius's Origen and the Politics of Martyrdom

Abstract

Rufinus's depiction of Origen in the Historia ecclesiastica varies from Eusebius's depiction of Origen. For much of the twentieth century, this was attributed either to Rufinus's negligence or censoriousness as a translator or to his personal admiration for the third-century theologian, but recent scholarship has come to appreciate Rufinus as an author in his own right. This article re-examines the often-subtle changes Rufinus made to Eusebius's portrait of Origen in Book 6 of the Historia ecclesiastica in detail and contextualizes them within the politics of martyrdom around the turn of the fifth century. This article pays particular attention to the changing and increasingly pliable nature of the concept of martyrdom in late antique Italy, especially as it was manipulated by Chromatius of Aquileia, who sponsored Rufinus in translating the church history and brokered the dispute between Rufinus and Jerome. In particular, this article argues that Rufinus presents the Christian confessor as a martyr in a studied attempt to bolster Origen's reception in the Latin West against repeated attacks against his unorthodox views, principally by Jerome.