Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/61

Rh ORIGENES. died about tliis time. Tillemont places his death in the same year as Origen's expulsion, viz. a. u. 231, correcting in a note the errors of Eusebius, in his Chronicon, as to the dates of these events. Heraclas succeeded Demetrius ; but though he had been the friend, pupil, and colleague of Origen, the change produced no benefit to the latter : the Egyptian clergy were too deepl}' committed to the course into which Demetrius had led them, to allow them to retract, and Origen remained in exile till his death. About this time he met with Gregory Thaumaturgus, afterwards bishop of Neocaesareia [Gregorius Thaumatltrgus], and his brother Athenodorus, who were then youths pursuing their studies. They both became his pupils, and the former of them his panegyrist. (Greg. Thaumat. Panegyrica Oratio in Oriyen. § 5.) Maximin, who had murdered the emperor Alexander Severus (a. d. 235) and succeeded to the throne, now com- menced a persecution of the church in which Origen's friend Ambrose, who had also settled at Caesareia, Avhere he had become a deacon, and Protoctetus, a presbyter of the same church, were involved. Origen, to encourage them to brave death for the truth, composed his treatise Ilepl MapTvpiov, De Martyrio. They escaped, however, Avith life. Origen himself is thought to have been at this time at Caesareia in Cappadocia, where Firmilianus the bishop was his friend : for he appears to have been concealed two years, during some persecution, in the house of a wealthy lady of the Cappadocian Caesareia, named Juliana (Pallad. Histor. Lausiae. c. 147 ; comp. Tillemont, Mem. vol. iii. p. 542, and Huet, Orige7iian. lib. i. c. iii. § 2), from whom he received several works of Symmachus, the Greek translator of the Old Testament. (Pallad. I.e.; Euseb. //. E. vi. 17.) If his journe}' into Cappadocia be placed in the reign of Maximin, he probably returned about the time of Maximin's death (A. d. 238) to Caesareia in Palestine, and there continued, preaching daily and steadilj'- pur- suing his biblical studies, composing his commen- taries on the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel and on the Canticles (Euseb. H.E. vi. 32), and labouring also at his Hexapla. These labours were hardly in- terrupted by a journey into Greece for he continued his works when on his travels, and finished his com- mentary on Ezekiel and commenced that on the Canticles at Athens. (Euseb. ibid.) The date of this second journey into Greece is doubtful According to Suidas {s. v. ^ Cipiyfvt]s) the com- mentary on Ezekiel was composed wl)en Origen was in his sixtieth year, i. e. in a. d. 245, and Eusebius {H. E. vi. 32) says it was finished at Athens ; but Tillemont infers from the order of events in the narrative of Eusebius that the journey took place before the death of the emperor Gordian III. (a. d. 244). If Tillemont's inference is sound, we must reject the statement of Suidas ; and we must also place before the death of Gordian, the visit which Origen made to Bostra in Arabia (Euseb. //. E. vi. 33), and his restoration to the then orthodox belief of Beryllus, bishop of Bostra, who had propagated some notions respecting our Lord's pre-existent nature, which were deemed heretical. [Beryllus.] During the reign of Philippus the Arabian (a. d. 244 — 249), Origen wrote his reply to the Epicurean Celsus, and his commentaries on the twelve minor prophets, and on the Gospel of Matthew ; also a number of letters, among which were one to the emperor Philippus, one to the VOL. III. ORIGENES. 4^ empress Severa his wife, and others to Fabianus, bishop of Rome, and other leading ecclesiastics, to correct their misconceptions respecting himself. He made also a third journey into Arabia, where he convinced some persons of their error in be- lieving that the soul died with the body and was raised again with it ; and repressed the rising heresy of the Elcesaitae, who asserted, among other things, that to denj'^ the faith in a time of persecu- tion was an act morally indifferent, and supported their heresy by a book which they affirmed to have fallen fromheaven. (Euseb. vi. 36, 37, 38.) But the life of this laborious and self-denying Christian was drawing near its close. With the reign of Decius (a. d. 249 — 251) came a renewal of persecution [Decius], and the storm fell fiercely upon Origen. His friend Alexander of Jerusalem died a martyr : and he was himself imprisoned and tortured, though his persecutors carefully avoided such extremities as would have released him by death. His tortures, which he himself exactly described in his letters, are related somewhat vaguely by Eusebius. (Euseb. //. ii". A'i. 39.) How- ever, he survived the persecution, which ceased upon, if not before, the death of Decius (a. d. 251 ). He received during, or after, the persecution a letter on martyrdom from Dionysius, who had now succeeded Heraclas in the see of Alexandria. [Dionysius, No. 2.] Whatever prospect this letter might open of reconciliation with tiie Alex- andrian Church was of little moment now. Origen was worn out with years, labours, .and sufferings. He had lost by death his great friend and sup- porter Ambrosius, who had not bequeathed any legacy to sustain him during what might remain of life. But povert}' had been through life the state which Origen had voluntarily chosen, and it mattered but little to him that he was left desti- tute for the brief remainder of his pilgrimage. After the persecution, according to Epiplianius, he left Caesareia for Jerusalem, and afterwards went to Tj-re. He died in a. d. 253, or, at the latest, early in 254, in his sixt5'-ninth year, at Tyre, in which city he was buried. (Hieron. De Viris Illustr. c. 54.) His sufferings in the Decian per- secution appear to have hastened his end, and gave rise to the statement, supported bj' the respectable authority of the martyr Pamphilus and others of the generation succeeding Origen's own time, that he had died a martyr in Caesareia during the persecution. This statement, as Photius observes, could be received only by denying the genuineness of the letters purporting to have been written by Origen after the persecution had ceased. (Phot. Bibl. Cod. 118.) It is remarkable that Eusebius does not distinctly record his death. There are few of the early fathers of whom we have such full information as of Origen, and there are none whose characters are more worthy of our esteem. His firmness in time of persecution ; his unwearied assiduity both in his office of catechist and his studies as a biblical scholar and theolo- gian ; his meekness under the injurious usage he received from Demetrius and other members of the Alexandrian church ; the steadfastness of his friendship with Ambrose, Alexander of Jerusa- lem, and others ; and his general piety and self- denial, entitle him to our highest respect. His bitterest enemies respected his character, and have borne honourable testimony to his worth. The chief ancient authorities for his life have been cited