Reformed Reflections

Learning from the Church Fathers (8-9)
       Origen (c. 185-254): His Life and Character, His Writings and Theology
                                

 The ancient world with its plurality of religions and philosophies used a host of weapons in its attempt to destroy the early church. Its greatest minds  vehemently attacked the foundational truths of Christianity: revelation, creation, incarnation, and resurrection. Our culture resembles the pagan pluralism of the early church period. But there is a tremendous difference between then and now. Despite fierce opposition and persecution, the Gospel spread and churches grew in size and number. But in our time, Christianity in the West is rapidly becoming a minority view. Our modern pluralistic  society has understood Christianity and rejected it.

To meet the onslaught of the anti-Christian "isms"  that mark our age, the Church should engage and interact with unbelief and errant philosophies. In the past, the Church's greatest theologians  have taken this approach. Therefore, as we seek to bring the Gospel to our society, we do well to consult the great Christian thinkers of bygone times. We are not the first ones to study the Scripture and to defend the faith. It is an illusion to think that we can "leap backward" across the centuries to study the Scriptures as though no one before us was engaged in interpreting the Scripture, theological debate, defending the faith, and in confessional formulation. Therefore, we can learn from the controversial church father Origen in our attempt to reach our generation with the Gospel.

Origen (c. 185-254 A.D.)

Origen (c. 185-254) was one of the most learned and incomparably the greatest scholar and theologian of the Eastern church in the early centuries and his fame as teacher spread far and wide.  He was "the genius of the early church." The historian Eusebius said that Origen was worthy of mention "even, so to speak, from his swathing-clothes."Having mastered a full range of pagan philosophy and literature, he could  speak as an authority in his own right. No longer pleading for mere toleration by pagan authorities, whether political or intellectual, Origen launched a vigorous counteroffensive. As one of the greatest minds of his age, he debated with pagan philosophers as their superior.  He also travelled widely, and became  acquainted with Christian leaders throughout the Roman world.  His life showed that a brilliant mind and a passionate heart for the Lord do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Origen was born in Alexandria in 185 AD. According to the early church historian Eusebius, he was a son of a devout Christian family. His father, Leonides, was a teacher, and gave the young Origen a thorough grounding in the Greek liberal sciences. But he also taught him the Scriptures, some of which he had to memorize each day. Leonides was martyred during the persecution of Emperor Septimius Severus. Only the intervention of his mother prevented Origin from sharing his father's fate. His mother was able to restrain him  from his youthful zeal for martyrdom only by hiding his clothes, so that he was unable to leave the house. This character trait of burning Christian zeal accompanied Origen throughout his life and plunged him into many difficulties. After the martyrdom of his father, he assumed responsibility for his mother and his six younger brothers. He became a teacher.

Origin became known for his life of austerity and physical renunciation, even castrating himself. He devoted many hours of each day to prayer and Bible study, strenuously forcing himself to almost unending toil, and living with little sleep and food.  He fasted regularly and went about barefoot. In the ancient world, his self-denial served as a powerful form of "lifestyle evangelism." His lifestyle earned him the nickname: Adamantius, meaning "unbreakable,' or we might say "Iron Man."   Why the ascetic lifestyle? For Origen its purpose was to train his body and soul for a life pleasing  to God. He considered himself dead to things of this world and alive only to Jesus Christ. In An Exhortation to Martyrdom, Origen put it this way: "I think God is loved with the whole soul by those whose great longing fellowship with him draw their soul away and separate it not only from their earthly body but also from every corpereal thing...If such a view seems hard to anyone, then he has not [truly] thirsted for the Mighty one, the living God.

Plotinus (c.205-79 A.D.)

Origen praised the Greek philosophers. According to him, they sought to know themselves, to know the things that are good, and which one must pursue, and the things that are evil, and which one must flee. In other words, Origen was strongly influenced by Greek thinkers, specially Plotinus. The latter, who greatly influenced early Christian theology, the founder of Neoplatonism, studied in Alexandria and Persia, settled in Rome (244). He became a popular lecturer, advocating asceticism and contemplative life. He ate no meat and little bread, was simple in his habits.  He had no care for his body; indeed, said  his pupil and biographer Porphyry,"he was ashamed that his soul had a body." The historian Will Durant called Plotinus "the last of the great pagan philosophers," and "a Christian without Christ." When Origen attended his class, Plotinus wished to end his lecture, saying, "The zest dies down when the speaker feels that his hearers have nothing to learn from him."

Origen: the Teacher

A brilliant student, Origen  was given the best education available and was a student of Clement of Alexandria. From his earliest  years he was very conversant with the Bible. During the persecution, the catechetical school in Alexandria was disbanded.. In 202 A.D., although he was only eighteen years old, he was appointed by Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria, not only to reopen the disbanded school but to head it. The student  succeeded his teacher Clement. His success as a teacher was remarkable and attracted heretics and pagans as well as catechumens.

Origen: the Author

Origen was not only the greatest scholar and theologian of the Eastern Church in the early centuries but also a prolific writer. He has been called the first "scientific" theologian, a man ahead of his age. He produced not only doctrinal and apologetic works but also commentaries on most of the books of the Bible. His writings often reflect brilliant spiritual insights; at other times, however, they exhibit strained or unsound theological speculations. In 218 A.D., Origen began his written works for Ambrosius, a wealthy friend who provided him with a staff of seven stenographers, seven copy writers and girls to make fair copies. From 233 A.D., there followed an amazing succession of works. He is reputed to have written about 6,000 books. It has been remarked that Origen "wrote more books than others had time to read." Origen commented on his work: "Solomon says in Ecclesiastes, 'My son, beware of making many books. There is no end to it, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.' 

However, unless that verse has some hidden meaning that I don't understand, I have directly transgressed that injunction. For I have not guarded myself against making many books."

Origen: A Heretic?

Was Origin excommunicated during his life time from the church as a heretic? This is what some scholars allege  today. But the available evidence does not, however, support this view. What happened was that Demetrius (189-c.232),his bishop, expelled Origen from Alexandria, not  because Origen taught heresy. According to the historian Eusebius, this was due to the bishop's jealousy. As the most celebrated Christian teacher of his time, Origen was far better known than his bishop. Demetrius's resentment came to a head when Origen travelled  through Palestine, and was ordained as a presbyter by the bishop of Caesarea. This was a highly unusual proceedure since Origen was a member of the church in Alexandria. When Demetrius heard of this, he was furious. He called a local church council, which decided that Origen could no longer serve in the church in Alexandria. He was deposed because he was irregularly ordained. The council did not declare him to be a heretic.

Origen in Caesarea

Origen never returned to Alexandria but made  his home in Caesarea in Palestine where he spent the remainder of his life as presbyter. He  founded a school of his own, spreading Alexandrian thought, exegesis, and theology in the Near East. He also exercised his preaching ministry almost daily. Only a fraction of the many hundreds  sermons  he preached are preserved, despite the stenographers who took the sermons in shorthand. He  gives us a clear picture of the preaching of the early Christians.  He preached through the whole of the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter - a ministry that few other ministers of the Gospel have performed with such singular brilliance.

Origen: the Evangelist

Like Clement of Alexandria before him, Origen also turned to educated pagans with missionary intent.  Since he was the first great Christian biblical scholar, his sermons have been preserved. His effectiveness as a preacher is well recognized, but what is not as well recognized is that he was an accomplished evangelist. Both in Alexandria and in Caesarea a large part of the population was Jewish. Origen's evangelistic efforts were directed to the Jewish population of the those two cities. His evangelistic message was that Christ is the fulfilment of the Scriptures. In Jesus all the promises of God found in the Old Testament are fulfilled, all the mysteries of the universe finally made clear. In the pulpit of Origen the exposition of the Bible, day by day, chapter by chapter, was an effective evangelistic technique. Centuries later the reformer, John Calvin, used the same method of expounding the Scripture as well as the twentieth century English Puritan Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones.

Persecution

In spite of his widespread fame, Origen was imprisoned during the persecution of Emperor Decius and cruelly tortured. Eusebius said that "the demon of evil marshalled all his forces and fought against Origen with his utmost craft and power, assaulting him beyond all others against whom he contented at that time." But Origen was  not killed because the authorities wanted to induce him to public recantation, which would have had an immense and widespread impact because he was so popular. He withstood all the agony, however, without bending and was set free again after a relatively brief time. But his health was broken, he died shortly afterward and was buried in Tyre, where his tomb could still  be seen by the Crusaders in the twelfth century.

His Writings and Theology