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157-579: The extant written tradition of the perpetual virginity of Mary first appears in a late 2nd-century text called the Protoevangelium of James . The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 gave her the title "Aeiparthenos", meaning Perpetual Virgin, and at the Lateran Synod of 649 Pope Martin I emphasized the threefold character of the perpetual virginity, before, during, and after the birth of Christ. The Lutheran Smalcald Articles (1537) and

314-503: A Commentary on the Song of Songs , in which he took explicit care to explain why the Song of Songs was relevant to a Christian audience. The Commentary on the Song of Songs was Origen's most celebrated commentary and Jerome famously writes in his preface to his translation of two of Origen's homilies over the Song of Songs that "In his other works, Origen habitually excels others. In this commentary, he excelled himself." Origen expanded on

471-685: A Christian center of higher education. According to Eusebius, the school Origen founded was primarily targeted towards young pagans who had expressed interest in Christianity but were not yet ready to ask for baptism. The school therefore sought to explain Christian teachings through Middle Platonism . Origen started his curriculum by teaching his students classical Socratic reasoning. After they had mastered this, he taught them cosmology and natural history . Finally, once they had mastered all of these subjects, he taught them theology, which

628-464: A Latin translation of it made by Tyrannius Rufinus in 410. Fragments of some other commentaries survive. Citations in Origen's Philokalia include fragments of the third book of the commentary on Genesis. There is also Ps. i, iv.1, the small commentary on Canticles, and the second book of the large commentary on the same, the twentieth book of the commentary on Ezekiel, and the commentary on Hosea. Of

785-419: A capital offense under Roman law at the time and one which would have made Origen's ordination invalid, since eunuchs were forbidden from becoming priests. Demetrius also alleged that Origen had taught an extreme form of apokatastasis , which held that all beings, including even Satan himself, would eventually attain salvation. This allegation probably arose from a misunderstanding of Origen's argument during

942-440: A charismatic leader who ruled the Christian congregation of Alexandria with an iron fist, became the most direct promoter of the elevation in status of the bishop of Alexandria; before Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria had merely been a priest who was elected to represent his fellows, but after Demetrius, the bishop was seen as clearly a rank higher than his fellow priests. By styling himself as an independent philosopher, Origen

1099-538: A collection of excerpts from major works of Biblical commentary written by the Church Fathers. Other fragments of the scholia are preserved in Origen's Philocalia and in Pamphilus of Caesarea 's apology for Origen. The Stromateis were of a similar character, and the margin of Codex Athous Laura , 184, contains citations from this work on Romans 9:23; I Corinthians 6:14, 7:31, 34, 9:20–21, 10:9, besides

1256-580: A debate with the Valentinian Gnostic teacher Candidus. Candidus had argued in favor of predestination by declaring that the Devil was beyond salvation. Origen had responded by arguing that, if the Devil is destined for eternal damnation, it was on account of his actions, which were the result of his own free will . Therefore, Origen had declared that Satan was only morally reprobate , not absolutely reprobate. Demetrius died in 232, less than

1413-696: A deliberate attempt by Eusebius to distract from more serious questions regarding the orthodoxy of Origen's teachings. McGuckin also states, "We have no indication that the motive of castration for respectability was ever regarded as standard by a teacher of mixed-gender classes." He adds that Origen's female students (whom Eusebius lists by name) would have been accompanied by attendants at all times, meaning that Origen would have had no good reason to think that anyone would suspect him of impropriety. Henry Chadwick argues that, while Eusebius's story may be true, it seems unlikely, given that Origen's exposition of Matthew 19:12 "strongly deplored any literal interpretation of

1570-581: A fascination with Origen. The Neoplatonist philosopher Porphyry heard of Origen's fame and traveled to Caesarea to listen to his lectures. Porphyry recounts that Origen had extensively studied the teachings of Pythagoras , Plato , and Aristotle , but also those of important Middle Platonists, Neopythagoreans , and Stoics , including Numenius of Apamea , Chronius , Apollophanes , Longinus , Moderatus of Gades , Nicomachus , Chaeremon , and Cornutus . Nonetheless, Porphyry accused Origen of having betrayed true philosophy by subjugating its insights to

1727-578: A few other fragments. Origen composed homilies covering almost the entire Bible. There are 205, and possibly 279, homilies of Origen that are extant either in Greek or in Latin translations. The homilies preserved are on Genesis (16), Exodus (13), Leviticus (16), Numbers (28), Joshua (26), Judges (9), I Sam. (2), Psalms 36–38 (9), Canticles (2), Isaiah (9), Jeremiah (7 Greek, 2 Latin, 12 Greek and Latin), Ezekiel (14), and Luke (39). The homilies were preached in

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1884-548: A first-born and that "until" did not have the meaning Helvidius construed for it, painted a repulsive word-portrait of Joseph having intercourse with a blood-stained and exhausted Mary immediately after she has given birth—the implication, in his view, of Helvidius's arguments. Opinions on the quality of Jerome's rebuttal range from the view that it was masterful and well-argued to thin, rhetorical and sometimes tasteless. Two other 4th century Fathers, Gregory of Nyssa , following "a certain apocryphal account", and Augustine , advanced

2041-521: A former marriage; or (3) sons of the Mary named in Mark 15:40 as "mother of James and Joses", who has been identified as either the wife of Clopas and sister of Mary, the mother of Jesus, or a sister-in-law to Joseph. The Odes of Solomon have been interpreted as implying that Mary was a virgin even during childbirth as well as stating that Mary did not have pain during childbirth. Similar statements exist in

2198-610: A further argument by reading Luke 1:34 as a vow of perpetual virginity on Mary's part; this idea, first introduced in the Protoevangelium of James, has little scholarly support today, but it and the arguments advanced by Jerome and Ambrose were put forward by Pope John Paul II in his catechesis of August 28, 1996, as the four facts supporting the Catholic Church's ongoing faith in Mary's perpetual virginity. It has been argued from John 19 , where Jesus entrusts Mary to

2355-582: A jar", became the source text for one of the two Hebrew columns in Origen's Hexapla . Origen studied the Old Testament in great depth; Eusebius even claims that Origen learned Hebrew. Most modern scholars regard this claim as implausible, but they disagree over how much Origen knew about the language. H. Lietzmann concludes that Origen probably only knew the Hebrew alphabet and not much else, whereas R. P. C. Hanson and G. Bardy argue that Origen had

2512-549: A life-long virgin, argued that these adelphoi were the sons of "Mary, the mother of James and Joses" ( Mark 15:40 ), who he identified with the wife of Clopas and sister of the virgin Mary (John 19:25), which remains popular in the Western church. A modern proposal considers these adelphoi sons of "Mary, the mother of James and Joses" (not here identified with the Virgin Mary's sister), and Clopas, who according to Hegesippus

2669-426: A midwife, and as they stand at the mouth of the cave, a cloud overshadows it, an intense light fills it, and suddenly a baby is at Mary's breast. Joseph and the midwife marvel at the miracle, but a second midwife named Salome (the first is not given a name) insists on examining Mary, upon which her hand withers as a sign of her lack of faith; Salome prays to God for forgiveness and an angel appears and tells her to touch

2826-584: A more-or-less complete Syriac translation of the Greek column, made by the seventh-century bishop Paul of Tella, has also survived. For some sections of the Hexapla , Origen included additional columns containing other Greek translations; for the Book of Psalms, he included no less than eight Greek translations, making this section known as Enneapla ("Ninefold"). Origen also produced the Tetrapla ("Fourfold"),

2983-530: A normal human birth, then his body was something other than a truly human one. As reported by Augustine , Jovinian "denied that the virginity of Mary, which existed when she conceived, remained while she gave birth." Augustine goes on to say that the reason for Jovinian's denial of Mary's virginity in partu was that the doctrine was too close to the Manichean view that Christ was simply a phantom. According to Ambrose, Jovinian maintained that Mary had conceived as

3140-684: A perpetual virgin, and that the adelphoi were cousins of the Lord. Jerome's opposition to the Protevangelium led to a diminished influence and circulation in the western, Latin church. It was condemned by Pope Innocent I in 405 and rejected by the Gelasian Decree around 500. It was completely unknown in the West, and it was taken over by the widely read Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew , which popularized most of its stories. The Gospel of James

3297-460: A person who was not ordained to preach. The Palestinian bishops, in turn, issued their condemnation, accusing Demetrius of being jealous of Origen's fame and prestige. Origen obeyed Demetrius's order and returned to Alexandria, bringing with him an antique scroll he had purchased at Jericho containing the full text of the Hebrew Bible. The manuscript, which had purportedly been found "in

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3454-447: A previous marriage". According to Richard Bauckham , Ignatius of Antioch also believed in the doctrine of Mary's virginity in partu . The Gospel of James states that Mary remained a life-long virgin, because Joseph was an old man who married her without physical desire, and the brothers of Jesus mentioned in the canonical gospels are explained as Joseph's sons by an earlier marriage. The Protoevangelium seems to have been used to create

3611-550: A public disputation, which went so successfully that Beryllus promised only to teach Origen's theology from then on. On another occasion, a Christian leader in Arabia named Heracleides began teaching that the soul was mortal and that it perished with the body . Origen refuted these teachings, arguing that the soul is immortal and can never die. In c. 249, the Plague of Cyprian broke out. In 250, Emperor Decius , believing that

3768-577: A purge of all those who had supported his predecessor. His pogroms targeted Christian leaders and, in Rome, Pope Pontianus and Hippolytus of Rome were both sent into exile. Origen knew that he was in danger and went into hiding in the home of a faithful Christian woman named Juliana the Virgin, who had been a student of the Ebionite leader Symmachus . Origen's close friend and longtime patron Ambrose

3925-408: A respectable tutor to young men and women. Eusebius further alleges that Origen privately told Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria, about the castration and that Demetrius initially praised him for his devotion to God on account of it. Origen, however, never mentions anything about having castrated himself in any of his surviving writings, and in his explanation of this verse in his Commentary on

4082-476: A respected professor of literature and also a devout Christian who practised his religion openly (and later a martyr and saint with a feast day of April 22 in the Catholic church). Joseph Wilson Trigg deems the details of this report unreliable, but admits that Origen's father was certainly at least "a prosperous and thoroughly Hellenized bourgeois". According to John Anthony McGuckin, Origen's mother, whose name

4239-491: A retrospective assumption based on the similarity of their teachings. Origen rarely mentions Clement in his writings, and when he does, it is usually to correct him. Eusebius claims that, as a young man, following a literal reading of Matthew 19:12, in which Jesus is presented as saying "there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of heaven ", Origen either castrated himself or had someone else castrate him in order to ensure his reputation as

4396-506: A short time in Arabia with the governor before returning to Alexandria. In the autumn of 215, the Roman Emperor Caracalla visited Alexandria. During the visit, the students at the schools there protested and made fun of him for having murdered his brother Geta (died 211). Caracalla, incensed, ordered his troops to ravage the city, execute the governor, and kill all the protesters. He also commanded them to expel all

4553-512: A smaller, abridged version of the Hexapla containing only the four Greek translations and not the original Hebrew text. According to Jerome's Epistle 33, Origen wrote extensive scholia on the books of Exodus , Leviticus , Isaiah , Psalms 1–15, Ecclesiastes , and the Gospel of John. None of these scholia have survived intact, but parts of them were incorporated into the Catenaea ,

4710-531: A sum which netted him a daily income of four obols . He used this money to continue his study of the Bible and of philosophy. Origen studied at numerous schools throughout Alexandria, including the Platonic Academy of Alexandria , where he was a student of Ammonius Saccas . Eusebius claims that Origen studied under Clement of Alexandria , but according to McGuckin, this is almost certainly

4867-518: A superficial understanding of the language but not enough to have composed the entire Hexapla . A note in Origen's On the First Principles mentions an unknown "Hebrew master", but this was probably a consultant, not a teacher. Origen also studied the entire New Testament , but especially the epistles of the apostle Paul and the Gospel of John , the writings which Origen regarded as

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5024-474: A virgin, but she had not given birth as a virgin. Jerome wrote against Jovinian but failed to mention this aspect of his teaching, and most commentators believe that he did not find it offensive. Jovinian also found two monks in Milan, Sarmatio and Barbatian , who held similar views as Jovinian. The only important Christian intellectual to defend Mary's virginity in partu was Ambrose , Archbishop of Milan, who

5181-421: A wealthy man named Ambrose from Valentinian Gnosticism to orthodox Christianity. Ambrose was so impressed by the young scholar that he gave Origen a house, a secretary, seven stenographers , a crew of copyists and calligraphers, and paid for all of his writings to be published. When he was in his early twenties, Origen sold the small library of Greek literary works that he had inherited from his father for

5338-430: A woman. In his early twenties Origen became less interested in work as a grammarian and more interested in operating as a rhetor-philosopher. He gave his job as a catechist to his younger colleague Heraclas . Meanwhile, Origen began to style himself as a "master of philosophy". Origen's new position as a self-styled Christian philosopher brought him into conflict with Demetrius, the bishop of Alexandria. Demetrius,

5495-414: A word appears in the scriptures along with all the word's known meanings, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that he did this in a time when Bible concordances had not yet been compiled. Origen's massive Commentary on the Gospel of John , which spanned more than thirty-two volumes once it was completed, was written with the specific intention not only to expound the correct interpretation of

5652-472: A year after Origen's departure from Alexandria. The accusations against Origen faded with the death of Demetrius, but they did not disappear entirely and they continued to haunt him for the rest of his career. Origen defended himself in his Letter to Friends in Alexandria , in which he vehemently denied that he had ever taught that the Devil would attain salvation and insisted that the very notion of

5809-450: A year later at the age of sixty-nine. A later legend, recounted by Jerome and numerous itineraries, places his death and burial at Tyre , but little value can be attached to this. Origen was an extremely prolific writer. According to Epiphanius , he wrote a grand total of roughly 6,000 works over the course of his lifetime. Most scholars agree that this estimate is probably somewhat exaggerated. According to Jerome, Eusebius listed

5966-568: Is certainly true, because Eusebius, who was an ardent admirer of Origen, yet clearly describes the castration as an act of pure folly, would have had no motive to pass on a piece of information that might tarnish Origen's reputation unless it was "notorious and beyond question." Trigg sees Origen's condemnation of the literal interpretation of Matthew 19:12 as him "tacitly repudiating the literalistic reading he had acted on in his youth." In sharp contrast, McGuckin dismisses Eusebius's story of Origen's self-castration as "hardly credible", seeing it as

6123-589: Is depicted as elderly and the father of grown sons; he has no desire for sexual relations with Mary. He leaves on business, and Mary is called to the Temple to help weave the temple curtain. One day while Mary is spinning thread for the curtain, the angel Gabriel appears and tells her that she has been chosen to conceive Jesus the Saviour, but that she will not give birth as other women do. Joseph returns and finds Mary six months pregnant, and rebukes her, fearing that

6280-472: Is evidence that celibacy within marriage was already practiced by the Qumran community and other Jews at that time. Catholic priest and New Testament scholar John P. Meier argues that although the preponderance of scriptural evidence indicates that Jesus had siblings, the evidence is not conclusive enough to disprove the perpetual virginity of Mary. Protoevangelium of James The Gospel of James (or

6437-564: Is likely that these works contained much theological speculation, which brought Origen into even greater conflict with Demetrius. Origen repeatedly asked Demetrius to ordain him as a priest, but Demetrius continually refused. In around 231, Demetrius sent Origen on a mission to Athens. Along the way, Origen stopped in Caesarea, where he was warmly greeted by the bishops Theoctistus of Caesarea and Alexander of Jerusalem, who had become his close friends during his previous stay. While he

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6594-625: Is not entirely clear on the issue of Mary's virginity post partum , with some scholars denying his traditional association with the Helvidian position. Helvidius also argued that Victorinus believed that Mary had other children; Jerome later claimed that Helvidius was misinterpreting Victorinus. Epiphanius invented a name " Antidicomarians " for a group of people who denied the perpetual virginity of Mary, which Epiphanius attacked. Their same views were also mentioned earlier by Origen , although he too rejected them as heretical. They were active from

6751-513: Is now generally recognized as anachronistic . According to Eusebius, as a young man, Origen was taken in by a wealthy Gnostic woman, who was also the patron of a very influential Gnostic theologian from Antioch , who frequently lectured in her home. Eusebius goes to great lengths to insist that, although Origen studied while in her home, he never once "prayed in common" with her or the Gnostic theologian. Later, Origen succeeded in converting

6908-469: Is probably Syrian, and it possibly derives from a sect called the Encratites , whose founder, Tatian , taught that sex and marriage were symptoms of original sin . The gospel is a midrash (an elaboration) on the birth narratives found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke , and many of its elements, notably its very physical description of Mary's pregnancy and the examination of her hymen by

7065-707: Is that the Pauline epistles , the four gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles , all mention the brothers ( adelphoi ) of Jesus, with Mark and Matthew recording their names and Mark adding unnamed sisters. The Gospel of James , followed a century later by Epiphanius , explained the adelphoi as Joseph's children by an earlier marriage, which is still the view of the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches. Jerome, believing that Joseph, like Mary, must be

7222-463: Is the earliest assertion of her perpetual virginity , meaning her virginity not just prior to the birth of Jesus, but during the birth and afterwards. Its explanation of the gospels' "brothers of Jesus" (the adelphoi ) as the offspring of Joseph by an earlier marriage remains the position of the Eastern church, but in the West, influential theologian Jerome asserted that Joseph himself had been

7379-572: Is unknown, may have been a member of the lower class who did not have the right of citizenship . It is likely that, on account of his mother's status, Origen was not a Roman citizen. Origen's father taught him about literature and philosophy as well as the Bible and Christian doctrine. Eusebius states that Origen's father made him memorize passages of scripture daily. Trigg accepts this tradition as possibly genuine, given Origen's ability as an adult to recite extended passages of scripture at will. Eusebius also reports that Origen became so learned about

7536-517: Is unknown. Early studies assumed a Jewish milieu, largely because of its frequent use and knowledge of the Septuagint (a Greek translation of the Jewish scriptures); further investigation demonstrated that it misunderstands and/or misrepresents many Jewish practices, but Judaism at this time was highly diverse, and recent trends in scholarship do not entirely dismiss a Jewish connection. Its origin

7693-469: The Hexapla , the first critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, which contained the original Hebrew text, four different Greek translations, and a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew, all written in columns, side by side. He wrote hundreds of sermons covering almost the entire Bible , interpreting many passages as allegorical . Origen taught that, before the creation of the material universe , God had created

7850-635: The Philosophumena attributed to Hippolytus of Rome , and the Commentary on Job by Julian the Arian have also been ascribed to him. Origen writes that Jesus was "the firstborn of all creation [who] assumed a body and a human soul." He firmly believed that Jesus had a human soul and abhorred docetism (the teaching which held that Jesus had come to Earth in spirit form rather than a physical human body). Origen envisioned Jesus' human nature as

8007-601: The Ascension of Isaiah . The virgin birth of Jesus is found in the Gospel of Matthew and possibly in Luke , but it seems to have little theological importance before the middle of the 2nd century. The 2nd century Church fathers Irenaeus and Justin Martyr , though mentioning the virgin birth, nowhere affirmed explicitly the view that Mary was a perpetual virgin. This idea, however, appears in at least three second-century works:

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8164-652: The Bodmer Library , Geneva, while the fullest is a 10th-century Greek codex in the Bibliothèque Nationale , Paris. The first widely printed edition (as opposed to hand-copied manuscripts) was a 1552 edition printed in Basel, Switzerland, by Guillaume Postel , who printed his Latin translation of a Greek version of the work. Postel also gave the work the Latin name Protevangelion Jacobi (Proto-Gospel of James) because he believed (incorrectly) that

8321-492: The Epistle of James as authentic with only slight hesitation. He also refers to 2 John , 3 John , and 2 Peter but notes that all three were suspected to be forgeries. Origen may have also considered other writings to be "inspired" that were rejected by later authors, including the Epistle of Barnabas , Shepherd of Hermas , and 1 Clement . "Origen is not the originator of the idea of biblical canon, but he certainly gives

8478-410: The Gelasian Decree around 500, became a widely influential source for Mariology . The Gospel of James was well known to Origen in the early third century and probably to Clement of Alexandria at the end of the second, so is assumed to have been in circulation soon after circa 150 AD. The author claims to be James the brother of Jesus by an earlier marriage of Joseph, but in fact his identity

8635-611: The Incarnation of Christ despite the challenges to its scriptural foundations. Modern Protestants have largely rejected the perpetual virginity of Mary on the basis of sola scriptura, and it has rarely appeared explicitly in confessions or doctrinal statements, though the perpetual virginity of Mary is still a common belief in Anglicanism and Lutheranism . Among the Anabaptists , Hubmaier never abandoned his belief in

8792-534: The New Testament . The information used to create the late-fourth-century Easter Letter , which declared accepted Christian writings, was probably based on the lists given in Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History HE 3:25 and 6:25, which were both primarily based on information provided by Origen. Origen accepted the authenticity of the epistles of 1 John , 1 Peter , and Jude without question and accepted

8949-569: The Protoevangelium of James ) is a second-century infancy gospel telling of the miraculous conception of the Virgin Mary , her upbringing and marriage to Joseph , the journey of the couple to Bethlehem , the birth of Jesus , and events immediately following. It is the earliest surviving assertion of the perpetual virginity of Mary , meaning her virginity not just prior to the birth of Jesus, but during and afterwards, and despite being condemned by Pope Innocent I in 405 and rejected by

9106-563: The Protoevangelium of James , the Gospel of Peter and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas . All of these early sources independently assert that the so-called "brothers of the Lord" were children of Joseph's first marriage. According to Protestant scholar Richard Bauckham , these works "show no signs of literary relationship" and probably "evidence of a well-established tradition in (probably early) second-century Syrian Christianity that Jesus' brothers and sisters were children of Joseph by

9263-556: The Second Helvetic Confession —stating that Mary was the "ever virgin Mary"—and in the notes of the Geneva Bible . Theodore Beza , a prominent early Calvinist, included the perpetual virginity of Mary in a list of agreements between Calvinism and the Catholic Church. Some reformers upheld the doctrine to counter more radical reformers who questioned the divinity of Christ; Mary's perpetual virginity guaranteed

9420-464: The Septuagint , and the Greek translations of Theodotion (a Jewish scholar from c. 180 AD), Aquila of Sinope (another Jewish scholar from c. 117–138), and Symmachus (an Ebionite scholar from c. 193–211). Origen was the first Christian scholar to introduce critical markers to a Biblical text. He marked the Septuagint column of the Hexapla using signs adapted from those used by

9577-481: The gospel of Peter affirmed the perpetual virginity of Mary, saying that the "brothers" of Jesus were from a previous marriage of Joseph. Tertullian , who came between Clement and Origen, denied Mary's virginity in partu to refute the docetist idea that the Son of God could not have assumed a human body ("although she was a virgin when she conceived, she was a wife when she brought forth her son"). Tertullian, however,

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9734-427: The ransom theory of atonement in its fully developed form, although Irenaeus had previously proposed a prototypical form of it. According to this theory, Christ's death on the cross was a ransom to Satan in exchange for humanity's liberation. This theory holds that Satan was tricked by God because Christ was not only free of sin, but also the incarnate Deity, whom Satan lacked the ability to enslave. The theory

9891-467: The 3rd to the 5th century. According to Epiphanius the Antidicomarians claimed that Apollinaris of Laodicea or his disciples denied the perpetual virginity of Mary, though Epiphanius doubted the claim. Early Christian theologians such as Hippolytus (170–235), Eusebius (260/265–339/340) and Epiphanius (c. 310/320–403) defended the perpetual virginity of Mary. By the early 4th century

10048-791: The Christ Child, upon which her hand is healed. The gospel concludes with the visit of the Three Magi , the massacre of the innocents in Bethlehem, the martyrdom of the High Priest Zechariah (father of John the Baptist ), the election of his successor Simeon, and an epilogue telling the circumstances under which the work was supposedly composed. The Gospel of James was a widely influential source for Christian doctrine regarding Mary . According to Bernhard Lohse, it

10205-467: The Devil attaining salvation was simply ludicrous. It was like a spark falling in our deepest soul, setting it on fire, making it burst into flame within us. It was, at the same time, a love for the Holy Word, the most beautiful object of all that, by its ineffable beauty attracts all things to itself with irresistible force, and it was also love for this man, the friend and advocate of the Holy Word. I

10362-560: The Gospel of James does not advance the idea of Mary's Immaculate Conception . Various manuscripts place the birth of Mary in the sixth, seventh, eighth, or ninth month, with the oldest having the seventh; this was in keeping with both the Judaism of the period, which had similar seventh-month births for significant individuals such as Samuel , Isaac , and Moses , as the sign of a miraculous or divine conception. Further signs of Mary's supremely holy nature follow, including Anne's vow that

10519-496: The Gospel of James was originally composed in Greek. Over 100 Greek manuscripts have survived, and translations were made into Syriac , Ethiopic , Sahidic Coptic , Georgian , Old Church Slavonic , Armenian , Arabic , and presumably Latin , given that it was apparently known to the compiler of the Gelasian Decree. The oldest is Papyrus Bodmer 5 from the fourth or possibly third century, discovered in 1952 and now in

10676-513: The Gospel of Matthew was universally regarded as a classic, even after his condemnation, and it ultimately became the work which established the Gospel of Matthew as the primary gospel. Origen's Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans was originally fifteen books long, but only tiny fragments of it have survived in the original Greek. An abbreviated Latin translation in ten books was produced by

10833-418: The Gospel of Matthew , only eight have survived in the original Greek (Books 10–17), covering Matthew 13.36–22.33. An anonymous Latin translation beginning at the point corresponding to Book 12, Chapter 9 of the Greek text and covering Matthew 16.13–27.66 has also survived. The translation contains parts that are not found in the original Greek and is missing parts that are found in it. Origen's Commentary on

10990-450: The Gospel of Matthew , written near the end of life, he strongly condemns any literal interpretation of Matthew 19:12, asserting that only an idiot would interpret the passage as advocating literal castration. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, some scholars have questioned the historicity of Origen's self-castration, with many seeing it as a wholesale fabrication. Trigg states that Eusebius's account of Origen's self-castration

11147-570: The Greek texts of two previously unknown works of Origen. Neither work can be dated precisely, though both were probably written after the persecution of Maximinus in 235. One is On the Pascha . The other is Dialogue with Heracleides , a record written by one of Origen's stenographers of a debate between Origen and the Arabian bishop Heracleides, a quasi-Monarchianist who taught that the Father and

11304-459: The Holy Spirit, and without loss of integrity brought him forth, and after his birth preserved her virginity inviolate. Thomas Aquinas admitted that reason could not prove this, but argued that it must be accepted because it was "fitting", for as Jesus was the only-begotten son of God, so he should also be the only-begotten son of Mary, as a second and purely human conception would disrespect

11461-550: The Italian philologist Marina Molin Pradel had discovered twenty-nine previously unknown homilies by Origen in a twelfth-century Byzantine manuscript from their collection. Prof. Lorenzo Perrone of Bologna University and other experts confirmed the authenticity of the homilies. The texts of these manuscripts can be found online. Origen is the main source of information on the use of the texts that were later officially canonized as

11618-680: The Latin translation of Rufinus, is addressed to friends in Alexandria. The second is a short letter to Gregory Thaumaturgus , preserved in the Philocalia . The third is an epistle to Sextus Julius Africanus , extant in Greek, replying to a letter from Africanus (also extant), and defending the authenticity of the Greek additions to the book of Daniel. Forgeries of the writings of Origen made in his lifetime are discussed by Rufinus in De adulteratione librorum Origenis . The Dialogus de recta in Deum fide ,

11775-602: The Mediterranean. In 212 he travelled to Rome – a major center of philosophy at the time. In Rome, Origen attended lectures by Hippolytus of Rome and was influenced by his logos theology. In 213 or 214, the governor of the Province of Arabia sent a message to the prefect of Egypt requesting him to send Origen to meet with him so that he could interview him and learn more about Christianity from its leading intellectual. Origen, escorted by official bodyguards, spent

11932-590: The New Testament references to the brothers and sisters of Jesus as signifying his kin, but not the biological children of his mother. The Latin Church, known more commonly today as the Catholic Church, shared the Council of Constantinople with the theologians of the Greek or Orthodox communion, and therefore shares with them the title Aeiparthenos as accorded to Mary. The Catholic Church has gone further than

12089-596: The Orthodox in making the Perpetual Virginity one of the four Marian dogmas, meaning that it is held to be a truth divinely revealed , the denial of which is heresy . It declares her virginity before, during and after the birth of Jesus , or in the definition formulated by Pope Martin I at the Lateran Council of 649 : The blessed ever-virginal and immaculate Mary conceived, without seed, by

12246-513: The Reformed Second Helvetic Confession (1562) codified the doctrine of perpetual virginity of Mary as well. The doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity has been challenged on the basis that the New Testament explicitly affirms her virginity only until the birth of Jesus and mentions the brothers ( adelphoi ) of Jesus , who may have been: (1) sons of Mary, the mother of Jesus , and Joseph ; (2) sons of Joseph by

12403-413: The Son were the same. In the dialogue, Origen uses Socratic questioning to persuade Heracleides to believe in the "Logos theology", in which the Son or Logos is a separate entity from God the Father. The debate between Origen and Heracleides, and Origen's responses in particular, has been noted for its unusually cordial and respectful nature in comparison to the much fiercer polemics of Tertullian or

12560-519: The Trinity, the nature of the divine spirit, reason, and angels. Book Two describes the world of man, including the incarnation of the Logos, the soul, free will, and eschatology. Book Three deals with cosmology, sin, and redemption. Book Four deals with teleology and the interpretation of the scriptures. Against Celsus (Greek: Κατὰ Κέλσου; Latin: Contra Celsum ), preserved entirely in Greek,

12717-686: The Virgin Mary and the birth of Jesus agree with the canonical Christian gospels, to the Diatessaron (a second century gospel harmony), and to various apocryphan infancy gospels including the Gospel of James, which the Quran's mention of Mary fed by angels, the choice of her guardian through the casting of lots, and her occupation making a curtain for the Temple immediately before the Annunciation. Origen Origen of Alexandria ( c. 185 – c. 253), also known as Origen Adamantius ,

12874-586: The Word ( Logos ) of God. The Logos eventually took flesh and was born of the Virgin Mary , becoming the God-man Jesus Christ . In recent years it has been questioned whether Origen believed this, being in reality a belief of his disciples and a misrepresentation by Justinian, Epiphanius and others. It is certain that Origen rejected the Stoic doctrine of eternal return , although he did posit

13031-526: The ascetic lifestyle of the Greek Sophists . He spent the whole day teaching and would stay up late at night writing treatises and commentaries. He went barefoot and only owned one cloak. He did not drink alcohol and ate a simple diet and he often fasted for long periods. Although Eusebius goes to great lengths to portray Origen as one of the Christian monastics of his era, this portrayal

13188-525: The birth of Christ. Athanasius of Alexandria (d.393) declared Mary Aeiparthenos , "ever-virgin", and the liturgy of James the brother of Jesus likewise required a declaration of Mary as ever-virgin. This view was defended by Augustine , Hilary of Poitiers , Didymus the Blind , Cyril of Alexandria among others. The Apostles' Creed taught the doctrine of virginitas in partu . In the Middle Ages

13345-556: The centerpiece of the library's collection by the time of Jerome, who records having used it in his letters on multiple occasions. When Emperor Constantine the Great ordered fifty complete copies of the Bible to be transcribed and disseminated across the empire, Eusebius used the Hexapla as the master copy for the Old Testament. Although the original Hexapla has been lost, the text of it has survived in numerous fragments and

13502-458: The chief theologian of Caesarea. Firmilian , the bishop of Caesarea Mazaca in Cappadocia , was such a devoted disciple of Origen that he begged him to come to Cappadocia and teach there. Demetrius raised a storm of protests against the bishops of Palestine and the church synod in Rome. According to Eusebius, Demetrius published the allegation that Origen had secretly castrated himself,

13659-417: The child to God and vows that she shall be raised in the Temple. Joachim and Anna name the child Mary, and when she is three years old, they send her to the Temple , where she is fed each day by an angel. When Mary approaches her 12th year, the priests decide that she can no longer stay in the Temple lest her menstrual blood render it unclean, and God finds a widower, Joseph, to act as her guardian: Joseph

13816-538: The church at Caesarea, with the exception of the two on 1 Samuel which were delivered in Jerusalem. Nautin has argued that they were all preached in a three-year liturgical cycle some time between 238 and 244, preceding the Commentary on the Song of Songs , where Origen refers to homilies on Judges, Exodus, Numbers, and a work on Leviticus. On June 11, 2012, the Bavarian State Library announced that

13973-508: The church would ever face. Between 232 and 235, while in Caesarea in Palestine, Origen wrote On Prayer , of which the full text has been preserved in the original Greek. After an introduction on the object, necessity, and advantage of prayer, he ends with an exegesis of the Lord's Prayer , concluding with remarks on the position, place, and attitude to be assumed during prayer, as well as on

14130-471: The churches of Palestine and Arabia as the ultimate authority on all matters of theology. He was tortured for his faith during the Decian persecution in 250 and died three to four years later from his injuries. Origen produced a massive quantity of writings because of the patronage of his close friend Ambrose of Alexandria , who provided him with a team of secretaries to copy his works, making him one of

14287-493: The classes of prayer. On Martyrdom , or the Exhortation to Martyrdom , also preserved entire in Greek, was written some time after the beginning of the persecution of Maximinus in the first half of 235. In it, Origen warns against any trifling with idolatry and emphasises the duty of suffering martyrdom manfully, while in the second part he explains the meaning of martyrdom. The papyri discovered at Tura in 1941 contained

14444-473: The co-founder of Methodism . Osiander denied the perpetual virginity of Mary, for which Melanchthon was scornful. John Calvin 's view was more ambiguous, believing that knowing what happened to Mary after the birth of Jesus is impossible. However John Calvin argued that Matthew 1:25 , used by Helvidius to attack the perpetual virginity of Mary does not teach that Mary had other children. Other Calvinists affirmed Mary's perpetual virginity, including within

14601-451: The disciple John instead of his brothers, to support the view that Jesus had no brothers, however Protestants have generally argued in two ways against this passage, one by claiming that the brothers of Jesus were unbelievers or that they were not present during the crucifixion. Some have argued that Mary and Joseph could not have had a normal marriage if Mary remained a perpetual virgin; however, it has been argued by some Catholics that there

14758-425: The doctrine, while others arguing that he disputed the perpetual virginity of Mary. The Ebionites denied the virgin birth and Mary's perpetual virginity. In the 3rd century, Hippolytus of Rome held that Mary was "ever-virgin", while Clement of Alexandria , writing soon after the Protoevangelium appeared, appealed to its incident of a midwife who examined Mary immediately after the birth ("after giving birth, she

14915-481: The early church ever produced". Origen sought martyrdom with his father at a young age but was prevented from turning himself in to the authorities by his mother. When he was eighteen years old, Origen became a catechist at the Didascalium or School of Alexandria . He devoted himself to his studies and adopted an ascetic lifestyle. He came into conflict with Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria , in 231 after he

15072-449: The exegesis of the Christian scriptures. Eusebius reports that Origen was summoned from Caesarea to Antioch at the behest of Julia Avita Mamaea , the mother of Roman Emperor Severus Alexander , "to discuss Christian philosophy and doctrine with her." In 235, approximately three years after Origen began teaching in Caesarea, Alexander Severus, who had been tolerant towards Christians, was murdered and Emperor Maximinus Thrax instigated

15229-484: The exegesis of the Jewish Rabbi Akiva , interpreting the Song of Songs as a mystical allegory in which the bridegroom represents the Logos and the bride represents the soul of the believer. This was the first Christian commentary to expound such an interpretation and it became extremely influential on later interpretations of the Song of Songs. Despite this, the commentary now only survives in part through

15386-468: The first of these books, Origen compares himself to "an Israelite who has escaped the perverse persecution of the Egyptians." Origen also wrote the treatise On Prayer at the request of his friend Ambrose and Tatiana (referred to as the "sister" of Ambrose), in which he analyzes the different types of prayers described in the Bible and offers a detailed exegesis on the Lord's Prayer . Pagans also took

15543-535: The founder of Neoplatonism. The Christians of the eastern Mediterranean continued to revere Origen as the most orthodox of all theologians, and when the Palestinian hierarchs learned that Beryllus , the bishop of Bostra and one of the most energetic Christian leaders of the time, had been preaching adoptionism (the belief that Jesus was born human and only became divine after his baptism ), they sent Origen to convert him to orthodoxy. Origen engaged Beryllus in

15700-510: The fourth-century debates between Trinitarians and Arians. Lost works include two books on the Resurrection , written before On First Principles , and also two dialogues on the same theme dedicated to Ambrose. Eusebius had a collection of more than one hundred letters of Origen, and the list of Jerome speaks of several books of his epistles. Except for a few fragments, only three letters have been preserved. The first, partly preserved in

15857-647: The fundamental source of authority regarding God's word ( sola scriptura ). The reformers noted that while scripture records the virgin birth , it makes no mention of Mary's perpetual virginity following the birth of Christ . Mary's perpetual virginity was upheld by Martin Luther (who names her ever-virgin in the Smalcald Articles , a Lutheran confession of faith written in 1537), Huldrych Zwingli , Thomas Cranmer , Wollebius , Bullinger , John Wycliffe and later Protestant leaders including John Wesley ,

16014-536: The holy scriptures at an early age that his father was unable to answer his questions about them. In 202, when Origen was "not yet seventeen", the Roman emperor Septimius Severus ordered Roman citizens who openly practised Christianity to be executed . Origen's father Leonides was arrested and thrown in prison. Eusebius reports that Origen wanted to turn himself in to the authorities so that they would execute him as well, but his mother hid all his clothes and he

16171-468: The infant would never walk on the earth (her bedroom is made a "sanctuary" where she is attended by "undefiled daughters of the Hebrews"), her blessing "with the ultimate blessing" by the priests on her first birthday with the declaration that because of her God will bring redemption to Israel, and the angels who bring her food in the Temple, where she is attended by the priests and engages herself in weaving

16328-512: The matter to his attention. Origen initially wanted to ignore Celsus and let his attacks fade, but one of Celsus's major claims, which held that no self-respecting philosopher of the Platonic tradition would ever be so stupid as to become a Christian, provoked him to write a rebuttal. In the book, Origen systematically refutes each of Celsus' arguments point by point and argues for a rational basis of Christian faith. Origen draws heavily on

16485-440: The midwife Salome, suggest strongly that it was attempting to deny the arguments of docetists , Christians who held that Jesus was entirely supernatural. It also draws heavily on the Septuagint for historical analogies, turns of phrase, and details of Jewish life. Ronald Hock and Mary F. Foskett have drawn attention to the influence of Greco-Roman literature on its themes of virginity and purity. Scholars generally accept that

16642-420: The moment of her conception. Her parents, the wealthy Joachim and his wife Anna (or Anne), are distressed that they have no children, and Joachim goes into the wilderness to pray, leaving Anna to lament her childless state. God hears Anna's prayer, angels announce the coming child, and in the seventh month of Anna's pregnancy (underlining the exceptional nature of Mary's future life), she is born. Anna dedicates

16799-491: The monk Tyrannius Rufinus at the end of the fourth century. The historian Socrates Scholasticus records that Origen had included an extensive discussion of the application of the title theotokos to the Virgin Mary in his commentary, but this discussion is not found in Rufinus's translation, probably because Rufinus did not approve of Origen's position on the matter, whatever that might have been. Origen also composed

16956-432: The most important and authoritative. At Ambrose's request, Origen composed the first five books of his exhaustive Commentary on the Gospel of John , He also wrote the first eight books of his Commentary on Genesis , his Commentary on Psalms 1–25 , and his Commentary on Lamentations . In addition to these commentaries, Origen also wrote two books on the resurrection of Jesus and ten books of Stromata (miscellanies). It

17113-402: The most influential of all early Christian apologetics works; before it was written, Christianity was seen by many as merely a folk religion for the illiterate and uneducated, but Origen raised it to a level of academic respectability. Eusebius admired Against Celsus so much that, in his Against Hierocles 1, he declared that Against Celsus provided an adequate rebuttal to all criticisms

17270-429: The most prolific writers in late antiquity . His treatise On the First Principles systematically laid out the principles of Christian theology and became the foundation for later theological writings. He also authored Contra Celsum , the most influential work of early Christian apologetics, in which he defended Christianity against the pagan philosopher Celsus , one of its foremost early critics . Origen produced

17427-407: The non-extant commentaries, there is limited evidence of their arrangement. Origen's On the First Principles was the first ever systematic exposition of Christian theology. He composed it as a young man between 220 and 230 while he was still living in Alexandria. Fragments from Books 3.1 and 4.1–3 of Origen's Greek original are preserved in Origen's Philokalia . A few smaller quotations of

17584-400: The one soul that stayed closest to God and remained perfectly faithful to Him, even when all other souls fell away. At Jesus's incarnation, his soul became fused with the Logos and they "intermingled" to become one. Thus, according to Origen, Christ was both human and divine, but like all human souls, Christ's human nature was existent from the beginning. Origen was the first to propose

17741-470: The original Greek are preserved in Justinian's Letter to Mennas . The vast majority of the text has only survived in a heavily abridged Latin translation produced by Tyrannius Rufinus in 397. On the First Principles begins with an essay explaining the nature of theology. Book One describes the heavenly world and includes descriptions of the oneness of God, the relationship between the three persons of

17898-615: The orthodoxy of Origen's teachings spawned the First Origenist Crisis in the late fourth century, in which he was attacked by Epiphanius of Salamis and Jerome but defended by Tyrannius Rufinus and John of Jerusalem . In 543, Emperor Justinian I condemned him as a heretic and ordered all his writings to be burned. The Second Council of Constantinople in 553 may have anathematized Origen, or it may have only condemned certain heretical teachings which claimed to be derived from Origen. The Church rejected his teachings on

18055-603: The perpetual virginity of Mary and continued to esteem Mary as theotokos ("mother of God"). These two doctrinal stances are addressed individually in Articles Nine and Ten, respectively, of Hubmaier's work, Apologia . The Second Council of Constantinople recognized Mary as Aeiparthenos , meaning "ever-virgin". It remains axiomatic for the Eastern Orthodox Church that she remained virginal throughout her Earthly life, and Orthodoxy therefore understands

18212-462: The perpetual virginity of Mary was commonly accepted, however the Paulicians denied her perpetual virginity, even saying that Christ denied her to be blessed. The Protestant Reformation saw a rejection of the special moral status of lifelong celibacy. As a result, marriage and parenthood were extolled, and Mary and Joseph were seen as a normal married couple. It also affirmed the Bible alone as

18369-609: The philosophical and literary–interpretative underpinnings for the whole notion." Origen's commentaries written on specific books of scripture are much more focused on systematic exegesis than his homilies. In these writings, Origen applies the precise critical methodology that had been developed by the scholars of the Mouseion in Alexandria to the Christian scriptures. The commentaries also display Origen's impressive encyclopedic knowledge of various subjects and his ability to cross-reference specific words, listing every place in which

18526-461: The physical sign. It was due to Ambrose that virginitas in partu came to be included consistently in the thinking of subsequent theologians. Bonosus of Sardica also denied the perpetual virginity of Mary, for which he was declared a heretic. His followers would survive for many centuries, especially among the Goths . Additionally, the perpetual virginity of Mary was denied by some Arians . Jovinian

18683-412: The plague was caused by Christians' failure to recognise him as divine, issued a decree for Christians to be persecuted . This time Origen did not escape. Eusebius recounts how Origen suffered "bodily tortures and torments under the iron collar and in the dungeon; and how for many days with his feet stretched four spaces in the stocks". The governor of Caesarea gave very specific orders that Origen

18840-776: The pre-existence of souls. Almost all information about Origen's life comes from a lengthy biography of him in Book VI of the Ecclesiastical History written by the Christian historian Eusebius ( c. 260 – c. 340). Eusebius portrays Origen as the perfect Christian scholar and a literal saint. Eusebius, however, wrote this account almost fifty years after Origen's death and had access to few reliable sources on Origen's life, especially his early years. Anxious for more material about his hero, Eusebius recorded events based only on unreliable hearsay evidence. He frequently made speculative inferences about Origen based on

18997-455: The priests will assume that he is the guilty party. They do, but the chastity of both is proven through the " test of bitter waters ". The Roman census forces the holy couple to travel to Bethlehem, but Mary's time comes before they can reach the village. Joseph settles Mary in a cave, where she is guarded by his sons, while he goes in search of a midwife, and for an apocalyptic moment as he searches all creation stands still. He returns with

19154-638: The sacred state of her holy womb. Symbolically, the perpetual virginity of Mary signifies a new creation and a fresh start in salvation history . It has been stated and argued repeatedly, most recently by the Second Vatican Council : This union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception   [...] then also at the birth of Our Lord, who did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it... A problem facing theologians wishing to maintain Mary's life-long virginity

19311-428: The scriptures, but also to refute the interpretations of the Valentinian Gnostic teacher Heracleon , who had used the Gospel of John to support his argument that there were really two gods, not one. Of the original thirty-two books in the Commentary on John , only nine have been preserved: Books I, II, VI, X, XIII, XX, XXVIII, XXXII, and a fragment of XIX. Of the original twenty-five books in Origen's Commentary on

19468-479: The souls of all intelligent beings. These souls, at first fully devoted to God, fell away from him and were given physical bodies. Origen was the first to propose the ransom theory of atonement in its fully developed form, and he also significantly contributed to the development of the concept of the Trinity . Origen hoped that all people might eventually attain salvation but was always careful to maintain that this

19625-468: The sources he had available. Nonetheless, scholars can reconstruct a general impression of Origen's historical life by sorting out the parts of Eusebius's account that are accurate from those that are inaccurate. Origen was born in either 185 or 186 AD in Alexandria. Porphyry called him "a Greek , and educated in Greek literature ". According to Eusebius, Origen's father was Leonides of Alexandria ,

19782-407: The spread of monasticism had promoted celibacy as the ideal state, and a moral hierarchy was established with marriage occupying the third rank below life-long virginity and widowhood. Eastern theologians generally accepted Mary as Aeiparthenos , but many in the Western church were less convinced. The theologian Helvidius objected to the devaluation of marriage inherent in this view and argued that

19939-678: The stories of Mary which are found in the Quran , but while Muslims agree with Christians that Mary was a virgin at the moment of the conception of Jesus, the idea of her perpetual virginity thereafter is contrary to the Islamic ideal of women as wives and mothers. The Second Apocalypse of James portrays James, the Brother of the Lord , not as a child of Joseph but of a certain "Theudas", a relative of Jesus. Hegesippus 's writings are not clear on this subject, with some authors arguing that he defended

20096-461: The teachers and intellectuals from the city. Origen fled Alexandria and traveled to the city of Caesarea Maritima in the Roman province of Palestine , where the bishops Theoctistus of Caesarea and Alexander of Jerusalem became his devoted admirers and asked him to deliver discourses on the scriptures in their respective churches. This effectively allowed Origen to deliver sermons even though he

20253-517: The teachings of Plato and argues that Christianity and Greek philosophy are not incompatible, and that philosophy contains much that is true and admirable, but that the Bible contains far greater wisdom than anything Greek philosophers could ever grasp. Origen responds to Celsus's accusation that Jesus had performed his miracles using magic rather than divine powers by asserting that, unlike magicians, Jesus had not performed his miracles for show, but rather to reform his audiences. Contra Celsum became

20410-415: The temple curtain. The ordeal of the bitter water serves to defend Jesus against accusation of illegitimacy levied in the second century by pagan and Jewish opponents of Christianity. Christian sensitivity to these charges made them eager to defend both the virgin birth of Jesus and the immaculate conception of Mary (i.e., her freedom from sin at the moment of her conception). The Quranic stories of

20567-529: The textual critics of the Great Library of Alexandria : a passage found in the Septuagint that was not found in the Hebrew text would be marked with an asterisk (*) and a passage that was found in other Greek translations, but not in the Septuagint, would be marked with an obelus (÷). The Hexapla was the cornerstone of the Great Library of Caesarea, which Origen founded. It was still

20724-417: The titles of just under 2,000 treatises written by Origen in his lost Life of Pamphilus . Jerome compiled an abbreviated list of Origen's major treatises, itemizing 800 different titles. By far the most important work of Origen on textual criticism was the Hexapla ("Sixfold"), a massive comparative study of various translations of the Old Testament in six columns: Hebrew , Hebrew in Greek characters,

20881-488: The two states, of virginity and marriage, were equal. His contemporary Jerome , realising that this would lead to the Mother of God occupying a lower place in heaven than virgins and widows, defended her perpetual virginity in his immensely influential Against Helvidius , issued c.383. In the 380s and 390s the monk Jovinian denied Mary's virginity in partu (virgin during childbirth), writing that if Jesus did not undergo

21038-480: The whole family. When he was eighteen, Origen was appointed as a catechist at the Catechetical School of Alexandria. Many scholars have assumed that Origen became the head of the school, but according to McGuckin, this is highly improbable. It is more likely that he was given a paid teaching position, perhaps as a "relief effort" for his impoverished family. While employed at the school, he adopted

21195-443: The words". Instead, Chadwick suggests, "Perhaps Eusebius was uncritically reporting malicious gossip retailed by Origen's enemies, of whom there were many." However, many noted historians, such as Peter Brown and William Placher , continue to find no reason to conclude that the story is false. Placher theorizes that, if it is true, it may have followed an episode in which Origen received some raised eyebrows while privately tutoring

21352-425: The work antedated the main gospels of the New Testament ( proto- for first, evangelion for gospel). Emile de Stryker published the standard modern critical edition in 1961, and in 1995 Ronald Hock published an English translation based on de Stryker. The narrative is made up of three distinct sections with only slight ties to each other: Mary is presented as an extraordinary child destined for great things from

21509-404: The world, the souls which had previously existed without bodies became incarnate. Those whose love for God diminished the most became demons . Those whose love diminished moderately became human souls, eventually to be incarnated in fleshly bodies. Those whose love diminished the least became angels . One soul, however, who remained perfectly devoted to God became, through love, one with

21666-557: Was ordained as a presbyter by his friend Theoclistus, the bishop of Caesarea , while on a journey to Athens through Palestine. Demetrius condemned Origen for insubordination and accused him of having castrated himself and of having taught that even Satan would eventually attain salvation, an accusation which Origen vehemently denied. Origen founded the Christian School of Caesarea, where he taught logic , cosmology , natural history , and theology, and became regarded by

21823-423: Was Joseph's brother. Further scriptural difficulties were added by Luke 2:7 , which calls Jesus the "first-born" son of Mary, and Matthew 1:25 , which adds that Joseph "did not know her until she had brought forth her firstborn son." Helvidius argued that first-born implies later births, and that the word "until" left open the way to sexual relations after the birth; Jerome, replying that even an only son will be

21980-515: Was Origen's last treatise, written about 248. It is an apologetic work defending orthodox Christianity against the attacks of the pagan philosopher Celsus , who was seen in the ancient world as early Christianity's foremost opponent. In 178, Celsus had written a polemic entitled On the True Word , in which he had made numerous arguments against Christianity. The church had responded by ignoring Celsus's attacks, but Origen's patron Ambrose brought

22137-557: Was an early Christian scholar , ascetic , and theologian who was born and spent the first half of his career in Alexandria . He was a prolific writer who wrote roughly 2,000 treatises in multiple branches of theology, including textual criticism , biblical exegesis and hermeneutics , homiletics , and spirituality. He was one of the most influential and controversial figures in early Christian theology, apologetics , and asceticism. He has been described as "the greatest genius

22294-458: Was arrested in Nicomedia , and Protoctetes, the leading priest in Caesarea, was also arrested. In their honor, Origen composed his treatise Exhortation to Martyrdom , which is now regarded as one of the greatest classics of Christian resistance literature. After coming out of hiding following Maximinus's death, Origen founded a school of which Gregory Thaumaturgus , later bishop of Pontus,

22451-484: Was condemned as a heretic at a Synod of Milan under Ambrose's presidency in 390 and Mary's perpetual virginity was established as the only orthodox view. Further developments were to follow when the Second Council of Constantinople in 553 formally gave her the title "Aeiparthenos", and at the Lateran Synod of 649 Pope Martin I emphasised the threefold character of the perpetual virginity, before, during, and after

22608-599: Was examined by a midwife, who found her to be a virgin") and asserted that this was to be found in the Gospels ("These things are attested to by the Scriptures of the Lord"), though he was referring to an apocryphal Gospel as a fact. The 3rd century scholar Origen used the Protoevangelium's explanation of the brothers to uphold the perpetual virginity of Mary ("There is no child of Mary except Jesus, according to those who think correctly about her"). Origen also mentioned that

22765-400: Was later expanded by theologians such as Gregory of Nyssa and Rufinus of Aquileia . In the eleventh century, Anselm of Canterbury criticized the ransom theory, along with the associated Christus Victor theory, resulting in the theory's decline in western Europe. The theory has nonetheless retained some of its popularity in the Eastern Orthodox Church . One of Origen's main teachings

22922-480: Was not formally ordained. While this was an unexpected phenomenon, especially given Origen's international fame as a teacher and philosopher, it infuriated Demetrius, who saw it as a direct undermining of his authority. Demetrius sent deacons from Alexandria to demand that the Palestinian hierarchs immediately return "his" catechist to Alexandria. He also issued a decree chastising the Palestinians for allowing

23079-556: Was not to be killed until he had publicly renounced his faith in Christ. Origen endured two years of imprisonment and torture, but obstinately refused to renounce his faith. In June 251, Decius was killed fighting the Goths in the Battle of Abritus , and Origen was released from prison. Nonetheless, Origen's health was broken by the physical tortures enacted on him, and he died less than

23236-570: Was one of the pupils. He preached regularly on Wednesdays and Fridays, and later daily. Sometime between 238 and 244, Origen visited Athens, where he completed his Commentary on the Book of Ezekiel and began writing his Commentary on the Song of Songs . After visiting Athens, he visited Ambrose in Nicomedia. According to Porphyry, Origen also travelled to Rome or Antioch, where he met Plotinus ,

23393-413: Was only speculation. He defended free will and advocated Christian pacifism . Origen is considered by some Christian groups to be a Church Father . He is widely regarded as one of the most influential Christian theologians. His teachings were especially influential in the east, with Athanasius of Alexandria and the three Cappadocian Fathers being among his most devoted followers. Argument over

23550-399: Was reviving a role that had been prominent in earlier Christianity but which challenged the authority of the now-powerful bishop. Meanwhile, Origen began composing his massive theological treatise On the First Principles , a landmark book which systematically laid out the foundations of Christian theology for centuries to come. Origen also began travelling abroad to visit schools across

23707-469: Was the chief target of the charge of Manicheism. In 391, he wrote Concerning Virginity whose full title was On the Education of the Virgin and the Perpetual Virginity of Mary . For Ambrose, both the physical birth of Jesus by Mary and the baptismal birthing of Christians by the church had to be totally virginal, even in partu , in order to cancel the stain of original sin, of which the pains of labor are

23864-471: Was the doctrine of the preexistence of souls , which held that before God created the material world he created a vast number of incorporeal " spiritual intelligences " (ψυχαί). All of these souls were at first devoted to the contemplation and love of their Creator, but as the fervor of the divine fire cooled, almost all of these intelligences eventually grew bored of contemplating God, and their love for him "cooled off" (ψύχεσθαι). When God created

24021-504: Was the first to give the name Anne to the mother of Mary, taking it probably from Hannah , the mother of the prophet Samuel , and Mary, like Samuel, is taken to spend her childhood in the temple. Some manuscripts say of Anne's pregnancy that it was the result of normal intercourse with her husband, but current scholars prefer the oldest texts, which say that Mary was conceived in Joachim's absence through divine intervention; nevertheless,

24178-619: Was the highest of all philosophies, the accumulation of everything they had previously learned. With the establishment of the Caesarean school, Origen's reputation as a scholar and theologian reached its zenith and he became known throughout the Mediterranean world as a brilliant intellectual. The hierarchs of the Palestinian and Arabian church synods regarded Origen as the ultimate expert on all matters dealing with theology. While teaching in Caesarea, Origen resumed work on his Commentary on John , composing at least books six through ten. In

24335-422: Was thus persuaded to give up all other goals ... I had only one remaining object that I valued and longed for – philosophy, and that divine man who was my master of philosophy. During his early years in Caesarea, Origen's primary task was the establishment of a Christian School; Caesarea had long been seen as a center of learning for Jews and Hellenistic philosophers, but until Origen's arrival, it had lacked

24492-484: Was unable to go to the authorities since he refused to leave the house naked. According to McGuckin, even if Origen had turned himself in, it is unlikely that he would have been punished, since the emperor was only intent on executing Roman citizens. Origen's father was beheaded, and the state confiscated the family's entire property, leaving them impoverished. Origen was the eldest of nine children, and as his father's heir, it became his responsibility to provide for

24649-598: Was visiting Caesarea, Origen asked Theoctistus to ordain him as a priest. Theoctistus gladly complied. Upon learning of Origen's ordination, Demetrius was outraged and issued a condemnation declaring that Origen's ordination by a foreign bishop was an act of insubordination. Eusebius reports that as a result of Demetrius's condemnations, Origen decided not to return to Alexandria and instead to take up permanent residence in Caesarea. John Anthony McGuckin, however, argues that Origen had probably already been planning to stay in Caesarea. The Palestinian bishops declared Origen

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