Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/906

Rh 840 R I G E N himself to these subjects ; although himself a teacher, he regularly attended the lectures of Ammouius Saccas, and made a thorough study of the books of Plato and Numenius, of the Stoics and the Pythagoreans. At the same time he endeavoured to acquire a knowledge of Hebrew, in order to be able to read the Old Testament in the original. His manner of life was ascetic ; the sayings of the Sermon on the Mount and the practical maxims of the Stoics Avere his guiding stars. Four oboli a day, earned by copying manuscripts, sufficed for his bodily sustenance. A rash resolve led him to mutilate himself that he might escape from the lusts of the flesh, and work unhindered in the instruction of the female sex. This step he afterwards regretted. As the attendance at his classes continually increased pagans thronging to him as well as Christians he handed over the beginners to his friend Heraclas, and took charge of the more advanced pupils himself. Meanwhile the literary activity of Origen was increasing year by year. He commenced his great work on the textual criticism of the Scriptures ; and at the instiga tion of his friend Ambrosius, who provided him with the necessary amanuenses, he published his commentaries on the Old Testament and his dogmatic investigations. In this manner he laboured at Alexandria for twenty-eight years (till 231-232). This period, however, was broken by many journeys, undertaken partly for scientific and partly for ecclesiastical objects. We know that he was in Rome in the time of Zephyrinus, again in Arabia, where a Roman official wanted to hear his lectures, and in Antioch, in response to a most flattering invitation from Julia Mammsea (mother of Alexander Severus, afterwards emperor), who wished to become acquainted with his philosophy. In the year 216 the time when the imperial executioners were ravaging Alexandria we find Origen in Palestine. There the bishops of Jerusalem and Caesarea received him in the most friendly manner, and got him to deliver public lectures in the churches. In the East, especi ally in Asia Minor, it was still no unusual thing for lay men, with permission of the bishop, to address the people in the church. In Alexandria, however, this custom had been given up, and Demetrius took occasion to express his disapproval and recall Origen to Alexandria. Probably the bishop was jealous of the high reputation of the teacher; and a coolness arose between them which led, fifteen years later, to an open rupture. On his way to Greece (appa rently in the j r ear 230) Origen was ordained a presbyter in Palestine by his friends the bishops. This was un doubtedly an infringement of the rights of the Alexandrian bishop ; at the same time it was simply a piece of spite on the part of the latter that had kept Origen so long without any ecclesiastical consecration. Demetrius con vened a synod, at which it was resolved to banish Origen from Alexandria. Even this did not satisfy his displeasure. A second synod, composed entirely of bishops, determined that Origen must be deposed from the presbyterial status. This decision was communicated to the foreign churches, and seems to have been justified by referring to the self- mutilation of Origen and adducing objectionable doctrines which he was said to have promulgated. The details of the incident are, however, unfortunately very obscure. No formal excommunication of Origen appears to have been decreed ; it was considered sufficient to have him degraded to the position of a layman. The sentence was approved by most of the churches, in particular by that of Rome. At a later period Origen sought to vindicate his teaching in a letter to the Roman bishop Fabian, but, it would seem, without success. Even Heraclas, his former friend and sharer of his views, took part against him ; and by this means he procured his own election shortly afterwards as successor to Demetrius. In these circumstances Origen thought it best voluntarily to retire from Alexandria (231-232). He betook himself to Palestine, where his condemnation had not been acknow ledged by the churches any more than it had been in Phoenicia, Arabia, and Achaia. He settled in Caisarea, and very shortly he had a flourishing school there, whose repu tation rivalled that of Alexandria. His literary work, too, was prosecuted with unabated vigour. Enthusiastic pupils sat at his feet (see the Panegyric of Gregory Thaumaturgus), and the methodical instruction which he imparted in all branches of knowledge was famous all over the East. Here again his activity as a teacher was interrupted by frequent journeys. Thus he was for two years together at Csesarea in Cappadocia, where he was overtaken by the Maximinian persecution ; here he worked at his recension of the Bible. We find him again in Nicomedia, in Athens, and twice in Arabia. He was called there to combat the Unitarian christology of Beryllus, bishop of Bostra, and to clear up certain eschatological questions. As he had formerly had dealings with the house of Alexander Severus, so now he entered into a correspondence with the emperor Philip the Arabian and his wife Severa. But through all situations of his life he preserved his equanimity, his keen interest in science, and his indefatigable zeal for the instruc tion of others. In the year 250 the Decian persecution broke out, Origen was arrested, imprisoned, and maltreated. But he survived these troubles it is a malicious invention that he recanted during the persecution and lived a few years longer in active intercourse with his friends. He died, probably in the year 254 (consequently under Valerian), at Tyre, where his grave was still shown in the Middle Ages. Writings. Origen is probably the most prolific author of the ancient church. &quot;Which of us,&quot; asks Jerome, &quot; can read all that he has written 1 &quot; The number of his works was estimated at 6000, but that is certainly an exaggera tion. Owing to the increasing iinpopularity of Origen in the church, a comparatively small portion of these works have come down to us in the original. We have more in the Latin translation of Rufinus ; but this translation is by no means trustworthy, since Rufinus, assuming that Origen s writings had been tampered with by the heretics, considered himself at liberty to omit or amend heterodox statements. Origen s real opinion, however, may frequently be gathered from the Philocalia a sort of anthology from his works prepared by Basil the Great and Gregory Nazi- anzenus. The fragments in Photius and in the Apology of Pamphilus serve for comparison. The writings of Origen consist of letters, and of works in textual criticism, exegesis, apologetics, dogmatic and practical theology. (1) Eusebius collected more than a hundred of Origen s letters, arranged them in books, and deposited them in the library at Ca^sarea (//. E., vi. 36). In the church library at Jerusalem (founded by the bishop Alexander) there were also numerous letters of this father (Euseb., II. E., vi. 20). But unfortunately they have all been lost except two, one to Julius Africanus (about the history of Susanna) and one to Gregory Thaumaturgus. There are, besides, a couple of fragments. (2-) Origeirs textual studies on the Old Testament were undertaken partly in order to improve the manuscript tradition, and partly for apologetic reasons, to clear up the relation between the LXX. and the original Hebrew text. The results of more than twenty years labour were set forth in his Hexapla and Tetrapla, in which he placed the HebreAv text side by side with the various Greek versions, examined their mutual relations in detail, and tried to find the basis for a more reliable text of the LXX. The Hexapla was probably never fully written out, but excerpts were made from it by various scholars at Csesarea in the 4th century ; and thus large sections of it have been