Letters From Origen
Origen Adamantius, born around A.D. 185 in Alexandria to Christian parents, grew up learning Greek literature and, by his father Leonides’ prescription, memorized the Scriptures daily. At seventeen Leonides was martyred and were it not for his mother’s intervention Origen would have joined him. With the family property taken by the government, Origen provided for his mother and six brothers by teaching grammar and rhetoric. Due to his literary ability and the love which he showed to the martyrs, the Bishop in Alexandria appointed Origen at eighteen as master in the Catechetical School.
Through his life Origen spent much time devoted to scripture, living as an ascetic, and instructing others in Christianity. His was a speculative mind, and not being satisfied with the plain meaning of Scripture he approached the Holy Word with a spiritual and allegorical lens. At some point he became friends with a wealthy individual, Ambrosias, who provided Origen with the funds and scribes to produce and distribute what became over six thousand works. Because of the proliferation of his writings, his many students, and his success in bringing heretics back into the fold of God, Origen remains perhaps the most influential theologian of the pre-Nicene period.
Origen’s life was not without controversy. At one point, while a layman, he expounded the Scriptures to church leadership, angering Demetrius, Bishop of the Church in Alexandria. Another time he was given official office in the Church while passing through Palestine. This once again angered Dimetrius who, with the support of Church leadership and possibly due to the heterodox nature of some of Origen’s speculative views, excommunicated him from fellowship with the Church in Alexandria. He retired to Caesarea where he continued to write and teach until being imprisoned and tortured in 249 due to an outbreak of persecution. This weakened his body and he died several years later at 70 years of age.
This episode contains two letters from Origen. The first, a personal letter to Gregory, contains a heartfelt encouragement to walk in the faith and learn the Scriptures. This letter is particularly significant as this Gregory, later styled Wonder-Worker or Thaumaturgus, became a disciple of Origen for about five years and later the Bishop of Neo-Caesarea.
The second letter is a response to a scholarly inquiry from Africanus regarding the now-apocryphal story of Daniel and Susanna. Like most biblical scholars today, Africanus considered the language in the text to be suspicious. Origen, however, argues that the story is authoritative. I personally love this short letter because it provides a glimpse of the scholarly debates happening in the Early Church.
If you would like to read more of the writings of the Early Christian Fathers, please visit ccel.org to view the full collection.
