Origen

Origen (Origenes Adamantius, c184-254 CE) was an early Christian scholar and theologian, who did valuable work on the text of the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint), wrote commentaries on many books of the Bible, and was the author of two influential expositions of Christian doctrine.

Origen was born to Christian parents in Alexandria in c184. Taught initially by his father, Leonidas, who died in a local persecution of Christians in 202, he continued his education at the Catechetical School of Alexandria, which concentrated on biblical exegesis and theology, becoming a teacher there and, eventually, the head of the school. Origen remained in Alexandria until 230, apart from a brief period in 215 when the Roman emperor Caracalla (reigned 211-217), enraged by the lack of respect shown to him by the students of Alexandria during a visit to the city, ordered the execution of the city’s students and their teachers, and Origen moved to Palestine for his own safety. In 230, however, while on a journey to Greece, he agreed to be ordained by the bishops of Caesarea and Jerusalem, which so angered Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria, that he banished him from the city, and Origen spent the final twenty five years of his life in Caesarea, where he continued his scholarly activities. In 250 the Roman emperor, Decius (reigned 249-251), initiated an empire-wide persecution of Christians, which led to Origen’s being imprisoned and tortured. His health was irreparably damaged by this period of imprisonment and he died in 254.

Origen’s immense contribution to Christian scholarship and theology may be divided roughly into three categories. First, there is his work on the text of the Bible, evident most conspicuously in the Hexapla, which sets out in six columns: the Hebrew of the Old Testament; a transliteration in Greek characters of the Hebrew; the text of the Septuagint; and in the remaining three columns the translations of, respectively, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion. Secondly, there are Origen’s commentaries on particular books of the Bible, particularly the Old Testament. Thirdly, there are his two large-scale expositions of Christian doctrine - Περὶ ἀρχῶν (Peri archōn, De principiis, On First Principles), the seminal work of Christian Neoplatonism, and Κατὰ Κέλσου (Kata Kelsou, Contra Celsum, Against Celsus) a defence of Christianity against the attack of the Platonist philosopher Celsus (fl.175-177).

Note on pronunciation: Origen’s name is pronounced in English with the stress on the first syllable, IPA: /ˈɒ rɪ dʒɛn/.