Introducing Origen

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Here follows the full account of the life of Origen by Fred. Crombie:

Origen, surnamed Adamantinus, was born in all probability at Alexandria, about the year 185 a.d. [1867] Notwithstanding that his name is derived from that of an Egyptian deity, [1868] there seems no reason to doubt that his parents were Christian at the time of his birth. His father Leonides was probably, as has been conjectured, [1869] one of the many teachers of rhetoric or grammar who abounded in that city of Grecian culture, and appears to have been a man of decided piety. Under his superintendence, the youthful Origen was not only educated in the various branches of Grecian learning, but was also required daily to commit to memory and to repeat portions of Scripture prescribed him by his father; and while under this training, the spirit of inquiry into the meaning of Scripture, which afterwards formed so striking a feature in the literary character of the great Alexandrine, began to display itself. Eusebius [1870] relates that he was not satisfied with the plain and obvious meaning of the text, but sought to penetrate into its deeper signification, and caused his father trouble by the questions which he put to him regarding the sense of particular passages of Holy Writ. Leonides, like many parents, assumed the appearance of rebuking the curiosity of the boy for inquiring into things which were beyond his youthful capacity, and recommended him to be satisfied with the simple and apparent meaning of Scripture, while he is described as inwardly rejoicing at the signs of genius exhibited by his son, and as giving thanks to God for having made him the parent of such a child. [1871] But this state of things was not to last; for in the year 202 when Origen was about seventeen years of age, the great persecution of the Christians under Septimius Severus broke out, and among the victims was his father Leonides, who was apprehended and put in prison. Origen wished to share the fate of his father, but was prevented from quitting his home by the artifice of his mother, who was obliged to conceal his clothes to prevent him from carrying out his purpose. He wrote to his father, however, a letter, exhorting him to constancy under his trials, and entreating him not to change his convictions for the sake of his family. [1872] By the death of his father, whose property was confiscated to the imperial treasury, Origen was left, with his mother and six younger brothers dependent upon him for support. At this juncture, a wealthy and benevolent lady of Alexandria opened to him her house, of which he became an inmate for a short time. The society, however, which he found there was far from agreeable to the feelings of the youth. The lady had adopted as her son one Paul of Antioch, whom Eusebius terms an "advocate of the heretics then existing at Alexandria." The eloquence of the man drew crowds to hear him, although Origen could never be induced to regard him with any favour, nor even to join with him in any act of worship, giving then, as Eusebius remarks, "unmistakeable specimens of the orthodoxy of his faith." [1873]

[1867] Cf. Redepenning's Origenes, vol. i. pp. 417-420 (Erste Beilage: ueber Origenes Geburtsjahr und den Ort, wo er geboren wurde). [His surname denotes the strength, clearness, and point of his mind and methods. It is generally given Adamantius.]

[1868] Horus vel Or. Cf. Ibid. (Zweite Beilage: ueber Namen und Beinamen der Origenes). [But compare Cave, vol. i. p. 322. Lives of the Fathers, Oxford, 1840.]

[1869] Encyclopaedie der Katholischen Theologie, s.v. Origenes.

[1870] Hist. Eccles., b. vi. c. ii. S: 9.

[1871] Hist. Eccles., b. vi. c. ii. S:S: 10, 11.

[1872] Eusebius, Hist. Eccles., b. vi. c. ii.: ;'Epeche, me di' hemas allo ti phroneses.

[1873] tes ex ekeinou peri ten pistin orthodoxias enarge pareicheto deigmata.

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