Page:Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature (1911).djvu/791

 flicting opinions, he was ready to lead them with a firm hand; if in danger of being swallowed up in the quicksands of shifting error, he was near to lift them up to the sure resting-place he had himself found (c. 14).

The hierarchy of sciences was not completed till theology with her own proper gifts crowned the succession followed hitherto, logic, physic, ethics. Origen found in the Holy Scriptures and the teaching of the Spirit the final and absolute spring of Divine Truth. In this region Gregory felt his master's power to be supreme. Origen's sovereign command of the mysteries of "the oracles of God" gave him perfect boldness in dealing with all other writings. "Therefore," Gregory adds, "there was no subject forbidden to us, nothing hidden or inaccessible. We were allowed to become acquainted with every doctrine, barbarian or Greek, on things spiritual or civil, divine and human; traversing with all freedom, and investigating the whole circuit of knowledge, and satisfying ourselves with the full enjoyment of all the pleasures of the soul" (c. 15). Such was, Gregory tells us, Origen's method. He describes what he knew and what his hearers knew. There is no parallel to the picture in ancient times. With every allowance for the partiality of a pupil, the view it offers of a system of Christian training actually realized exhibits a type we cannot hope to surpass. The ideals of Christian education and of Christian philosophy were fashioned together. Under that comprehensive and loving discipline Gregory, already trained in heathen schools, first learnt, step by step, according to his own testimony, what the pursuit of philosophy truly was, and came to know the solemn duty of forming opinions not as the amusement of a moment, but as solid foundations of life-long work.

From Caesarea Origen visited different parts of Palestine: Jerusalem, Jericho, the valley of the Jordan (t. vi. in Joh. § 24); Sidon, where he made some stay (Hom. in Josh. xvi. § 2), partly at least to investigate "the footsteps of Jesus, and of His disciples, and of the prophets" (in Joh. l.c.). He also went again to Athens and continued there some time, being engaged on his Commentaries (Eus. H. E. vi. 32). In the first of two visits to Arabia he went to confer with Beryllus of Bostra, who had advanced false views on the Incarnation (ib. 33); in the second to meet some errors on the doctrine of the resurrection (ib. 37). In both cases he was specially invited and persuaded those whom he controverted to abandon their opinions.

His energy now rose to its full power. Till he was 60 ( 246) he had forbidden his unwritten discourses to be taken down. Experience at length enabled him to withdraw the prohibition, and most of his homilies are due to reports made afterwards. The Books against Celsus and the Commentaries on St. Matthew, belonging to the same period, shew, in different directions, the maturity of his vigour. Thus his varied activity continued till the persecution of Decius in 250. The preceding reign of Philip had favoured the growth of Christianity; and there is no sufficient reason to question the fact of Origen's correspondence with the emperor and his wife Severa (ib. 36). Such intercourse marked Origen out for attack to Philip's conqueror and successor. His friend Alexander of Jerusalem died in prison. He himself suffered a variety of tortures, probably at Tyre—chains, the iron collar, and the rack; but his constancy baffled all the efforts of his enemies (ib. 39). He was threatened with the stake, and a report gained currency in later times that his sufferings were crowned by death (Phot. Cod. 118, p. 159). During this sharp trial his former pupil Dionysius, now bp. of Alexandria, addressed him a letter on martyrdom (Eus. H. E. vi. 46), shewing the old affection still alive, in spite of long separation. Origen described his sufferings and consolations in letters which Eusebius characterizes "as full of help to those who need encouragement" (ib. 39). The death of Decius (251, Clinton, F.R. i. 270), after a reign of two years, set Origen free. But his health was broken by his hardships. He died at Tyre in 253, "having completed seventy years save one" (Eus. H. E. vii. 1; Hieron. Ep. 65 ad Pammach.). He was buried there (William of Tyre, c. 1180, Hist. xiii. 1: "haec [Tyrus] et Origenis corpus occultat sicut oculata fide etiam hodie licet inspicere"), and his tomb was honoured as long as the city survived.

Of the later fortunes of his teaching it is enough to say here that his fate after death was like his fate during life: he continued to witness not in vain to noble truths. His influence was sufficiently proved by the persistent bitterness of his antagonists, and there are few sadder pages in church history than the record of the Origenistic controversies. But in spite of errors easy to condemn, his characteristic thoughts survived in the works of Hilary and Ambrose and Jerome, and in his own homilies, to stir later students in the West. His homilies had a very wide circulation in the middle ages in a Latin translation; and it would be interesting to trace their effect upon medieval commentators down to Erasmus, who wrote to Colet in 1504: "Origenis operum bonam partem evolvi; quo praeceptore mihi videor non-nullum fecisse operae pretium; aperit enim fontes quosdam et rationes indicat artis theologicae."

.—Epiphanius says (Haer. lxiv. 63) that in popular reports no less than 6,000 works were ascribed to Origen. Jerome denies this (Ep. lxxxii. 7) and brings down the number to a third (adv. Ruf. ii. c. 22; cf. c. 13). His works will be noticed in the following order: Exegetical, Dogmatical, Apologetic, Practical, Letters, Philocalia.

A. .—Epiphanius states that Origen undertook to comment on all the books of Scripture (Haer. lxiv. 3) and though his sole statement might be of very little value, independent and exact evidence goes far to confirm it.

His exegetical writings are of three kinds: detached Notes (Σχόλια, σημειώσεις, in the narrower sense, excerpta, commaticum interpretandi genus), Homilies addressed to popular audiences (Ὁμιλίαι. Tractatus), and complete and elaborate Commentaries (Τόμοι, σημειώσεις in the wider sense, volumina). Cf. Hieron. ''in Ezech. Prol.; Praef. Comm. in Matt.''; Rufin. ''Praef. in Num.''