Early Church Leaders: Origen

 ORIGEN OF ALEXANDRIA

Excerpt from ‘The Story of Christianity, Volumn 1’ by Justo L Gonzalev

Clement’s greatest disciple, and the last of the four Christian teachers to be considered was Origen. In contrast with Clement, Origen was the son of Christian parents. His father suffered martyrdom during the persecution of Septimius Severus—the same persecution that forced Clement to leave the city. Origen, who was still a young lad, wished to offer himself for martyrdom. But his mother hid his clothes and he was forced to remain at home, where he wrote a treatise on martyrdom addressed to his imprisoned father.

Shortly thereafter, when Origen was still in his late teens, the bishop of Alexandria, Demetrius, entrusted him with the task of training catechumens—that is, candidates for baptism. This was a very serious responsibility, and young Origen, whose genius was exceptional, soon became famous. After teaching catechumens for a number of years, he left that task to some of his best disciples, and devoted himself entirely to running a school of Christian philosophy that was very similar to those founded by the great classical philosophers. There he lectured, not only to Christians who came from afar to listen to him, but also to enlightened pagans drawn by his fame, such as the mother of the emperor and the governor of Arabia. For a number of reasons, including jealousy, conflict arose between Demetrius and Origen. The final result was that the latter had to leave his native city and settle at Caesarea, where he continued writing and teaching for another twenty years.

Finally, during the persecution of Decius, Origen had the opportunity to show the strength of his faith. Given the nature of that persecution, Origen was not put to death, but was tortured to such a point that he died shortly after having been released. He died in Tyre, when he was about seventy years old.

Origen’s literary output was enormous. Since he was aware of the manner in which diverse versions of scripture differed, he compiled the Hexapla. This was an edition of the Old Testament in six columns: the Hebrew text, a Greek transliteration from the Hebrew—so that a reader who did not know that ancient language could at least have some idea of its pronunciation and four different Greek translations. To this was added an entire system of symbols indicating variants, omissions, and additions.

Besides this great scholarly work, Origen wrote commentaries on many books of the Bible, the already cited apology Against Celsus, and a great systematic theology called De principiis—(“On First Principles”). Part of this great literary production was achieved through dictation, and it is even said that at times he would simultaneously dictate seven different works to as many secretaries.

The spirit of Origen’s theology is very similar to that of his teacher, Clement. It is an attempt to relate Christian faith to the philosophical tradition that was then current in Alexandria, Platonism. He was aware of the danger of abandoning Christian doctrine in favor of the teachings of the philosophers, and thus declared that “nothing which is at variance with the tradition of the apostles and of the church is to be accepted as true.” This tradition includes first of all the doctrine that there is only one God, creator and ruler of the universe, and therefore the Gnostic speculations regarding the origin of the world are to be rejected. Secondly, the apostles taught that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, begotten before all creation, and that his incarnation is such that, while becoming human, he remained divine. As to the Holy Spirit, Origen declares that apostolic tradition is not entirely clear, except in affirming that the Spirit’s glory is no less than that of the Father and the Son. Finally, the apostles taught that at a future time the soul will be rewarded or punished according to its life in this world, and that there will be a final resurrection of the body, which will rise incorruptible.

However, once these points have been affirmed, Origen feels free to rise in great speculative flights. For instance, since the tradition of the apostles and of the church gives no details as to how the world was created, Origen believes that this is a fair field of inquiry. In the first chapters of Genesis there are two stories of creation, as Jewish scholars had noted even before the time of Origen. In one of these stories, we are told that humankind was created after the image and likeness of God, and that “male and female created He them.” In the second, we are told that God made Adam first, then the animals, and then formed the woman out of Adam’s rib. In the Greek version of the first narrative, the verb describing God’s action is “to create,” whereas in the second it is “to form” or “to shape.” What is the meaning of these differences? Modern scholars would speak of the joining of separate traditions. But Origen simply declares that there are two narratives because there were in fact two creations.

According to Origen, the first creation was purely spiritual. What God first created were spirits without bodies. This is why the text says “male and female”—that is, with no sexual differences. This is also why we are told that God “created,” and not that God “formed.”

God’s purpose was that the spirits thus created would be devoted to the contemplation of the divine. But some of them strayed from that contemplation and fell. It was then that God made the second creation. This second creation is material, and it serves as a shelter or temporary home for fallen spirits. Those spirits who fell farthest have become demons, while the rest are human souls. It was for these human souls—fallen preexistent spirits—that God made the bodies we now have, which God “shaped” out of the earth, making some male and some female. This implies that all human souls existed as pure spirits—or “intellects,” as Origen calls them—before being born into the world, and that the reason why we are here is that we have sinned in that prior, purely spiritual existence. Although Origen claims that all this is based on the Bible, it is clear that it is derived from the Platonic tradition, where similar ideas had been taught for a long time.

In the present world, the Devil and his demons have us captive, and therefore Jesus Christ has come to break the power of Satan and to show us the path we are to follow in our return to our spiritual home. Furthermore, since the Devil is no more than a spirit like ours, and since God is love, in the end even Satan will be saved, and the entire creation will return to its original state, where everything was pure spirit. However, since these spirits will still be free, there is nothing to guarantee that there

will not be a new fall, a new material world, and a new history, and that the cycle of fall, restoration, and fall will not go on forever. In evaluating all of this, one has to begin by marveling at the width of Origen’s mental scope. For this reason, he has had fervent admirers at various times throughout the history of the church. One must also remember that Origen proposes all of this, not as truths to be generally accepted, nor as something that will supersede the doctrines of the church, but as his own tentative speculations, which ought not to be compared with the authoritative teaching of the church.

However, once this has been said, it is also important to note that on many points Origen is more Platonist than Christian.

Thus, for instance, Origen rejects the doctrines of Marcion and of the Gnostics, that the world is the creation of an inferior being; but then he comes to the conclusion that the existence of the physical world—as well as of history—is the result of sin. At this point there is a marked difference with Irenaeus, for whom the existence of history was part of the eternal purpose of God. And when it comes to the preexistence of souls, and to the eternal cycle of fall and restoration, there is no doubt that Origen strays from what Christianity has usually taught.

As one studies the writings of these great teachers of the church, it is evident that different trends or theological tendencies are beginning to emerge. First, Irenaeus reflects the sort of theology that will become dominant in his native area of Asia Minor as well as in Syria. This is a theology dominated by the story of what God has done, is doing, and will do. It sees salvation as union with the Christ who has conquered death—a union established by baptism and fed by communion. Secondly, particularly in Alexandria, a theological trend is emerging whose main concern is to show the connection between Christianity and the best of classical philosophy. This theology is dominated by the quest for philosophical, unchanging truth. For it, salvation consists in being so illumined by God as to be able to return to the spiritual world. Finally, in the Latin-speaking West Tertullian is the first exponent of a theology that will be profoundly concerned over moral issues—sometimes to the point of legalism—and for which salvation is attained by moral purity. In later centuries, these three theologies would continue evolving. The Latin-speaking West, dominated by a theological outlook patterned after Tertullian’s, would be involved in repeated debates on how to preserve the purity of the church, and much later—particularly in the sixteenth century—over the role of works in salvation. The Greek speaking East would soon be divided by differences reflecting the tradition expounded by Irenaeus on the one hand, and the philosophical outlook of Origen on the other.