Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers: Series II/Volume I/Church History of Eusebius/Book VI/Chapter 24

The Commentaries which he prepared at Alexandria.

1. may be well to add that in the sixth book of his exposition of the Gospel of John Origen&#8217;s commentary upon the Gospel of John was the &#8220;first fruits of his labors at Alexandria,&#8221; as he informs us in Tom. I. &#167;4. It must have been commenced, therefore, soon after he formed the connection with Ambrose mentioned in the previous chapter, and that it was one of the fruits of this connection is proved by the way in which Ambrose is addressed in the commentary itself (Tom. I. &#167;3). The date at which the work was begun cannot be determined; but if Eusebius follows the chronological order of events, it cannot have been before 218 (see chap. 21, note 8). Eusebius speaks as if Origen had expounded the entire Gospel (&#964;&#8134;&#962; &#948;&#8125; &#949;&#7984;&#962; &#964;&#8056; &#960;&#8118;&#957; &#949;&#8016;&#945;&#947;&#947;&#8051;&#955;&#953;&#959;&#957; &#945;&#8016;&#964;&#8056; &#948;&#8050; &#964;&#959;&#8166;&#964;&#959; &#960;&#961;&#945;&#947;&#956;&#945;&#964;&#949;&#8055;&#945;&#962;), but Jerome, in his catalogue of Origen&#8217;s works given in his epistle to Paula (in a fragmentary form in Migne&#8217;s ed., Ep. 33, complete in the Zeitschrift f&#252;r Hist. Theol. 1851, p. 75 sq.), reports that the commentary consisted of thirty-two books and some notes (cf. his prologue to his translation of Origen&#8217;s homilies on Luke, Migne&#8217;s ed., VII. 219), and Rufinus likewise (Apol. II. 22) speaks of thirty-two books only. But in the thirty-second book, which is still extant, Origen discusses the thirteenth chapter of John, and does not promise to continue the commentary, as he does at the close of some of the other books. We may therefore conclude that Eusebius&#8217; rather indefinite statement (which was probably not based upon personal knowledge, for he says that he had seen only twenty-two books), is incorrect, and that the commentary extended no further than the thirteenth chapter. We learn from the preface to the sixth book that the first five were composed while the author was still in Alexandria, the remaining books after his removal to C&#230;sarea, and at least part of them after the persecution of Maximinus (235&#8211;238), to which reference was made in the twenty-second book, according to Eusebius, chap. 28, below. There are still extant Books I., II., VI., X., XIII., XX., XXVIII., XXXII., small fragments of IV. and V., and the greater part of XIX. (printed in Lommatzsch&#8217;s ed., Vols. I and II.). The production of this commentary marked an epoch in the history of theological thought, and it remains in many respects the most important of Origen&#8217;s exegetical works. It is full of original and suggestive thought, and reveals Origen&#8217;s genius perhaps in the clearest and best light, though the exegesis is everywhere marred by the allegorizing method and by neglect of the grammatical and historical sense. he states that he prepared the first five while in Alexandria. Of his work on the entire Gospel only twenty-two volumes have come down to us.

2. In the ninth of those on Genesis, of which there are twelve in all, he states that not only the preceding eight had been composed at Alexandria, but also those on the first twenty-five Psalms and on Lamentations. Of these last five volumes have reached us.

3. In them he mentions also his books On the Resurrection, of which there are two. He wrote also the books De Principiis Of Origen&#8217;s De Principiis (&#960;&#949;&#961;&#8054; &#7936;&#961;&#967;&#8182;&#957;), which was written before he left Alexandria, there are still extant some fragments in Greek, together with brief portions of a translation by Jerome (in his epistle to Avitus; Migne&#8217;s ed.; Ep. 124), and a complete but greatly altered translation by Rufinus. The latter, together with the extant fragments, is printed by Lommatzsch, Vol. XXI.; and also separately by Redepenning (Lips. 1836); Engl. trans. by Crombie, in the Ante-Nicene Fathers. The work is the most important of all Origen&#8217;s writings, and from it we gather our fullest knowledge as to his opinions, philosophical and theological; though unfortunately Rufinus&#8217; alterations have made it doubtful in many cases what Origen&#8217;s original meaning was. The work constitutes the first attempt to form a system of Christian doctrine. It contains a great many peculiar, often startling errors, and was the chief source of the attacks made upon Origen for heterodoxy; and yet the author&#8217;s object was only to set forth the doctrines accepted by the Church, and to show how they could be systematized by the aid of Scripture or of reason. He did not intend to bring forward doctrines inconsistent with the received faith of the Church. The work consists of four books. To quote from Westcott: &#8220;The composition is not strictly methodical. Digressions and repetitions interfere with the symmetry of the plan. But to speak generally, the first book deals with God and creation (religious statics); the second and third books with creation and providence, with man and redemption (religious dynamics); and the fourth book with Holy Scripture.&#8221;

Intellectually the work is of a very high order, abounding in deep and original thought as well as in grand and lofty sentiments. before leaving Alexandria; and the discourses entitled Stromata, ten in number, he composed in the same city during the reign of Alexander, as the notes by his own hand preceding the volumes indicate.