Suicide is Christian, for Jesus Christ suicided.

In the Commentary on the Gospel According to John, the third century theologian Origen writes: “if we were not afraid of words and pay attention to things, we might say … that divinely (in a manner of speaking) Jesus killed himself.”[1]

Origen presents the theological complexity and precision of this act. Christ is the lamb and the High Priest, the sacrificed and the one who shall sacrifice on behalf of humanity, payment in kind, blood for blood.

St. Jerome and the Venerable Bede join with Origen to concur that Jesus was a suicide.

In Biathanatos, written in 1618 and published in 1642, John Donne observes of suicide: “There is the example of our blessed savior, who chose as the way for our redemption to sacrifice his life and shed his blood.”[3]

These authoritative words mere marginalia, however, for how can one supplant the words of Christ?

“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” (John 10:11)

“As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:15)

“Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down myself. I have the power to lay it down, and I have the power to take it again. (John 10:17–8)

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John Donne, Biathanatos, 22.