Church History Books 1–9 (trans.) 6

Concerning the bishops who lived in the time of Origen. How Heraclas received the priesthood at Alexandria. Concerning the ordination of Fabian the bishop, and the marvels that occurred at it. XXXIII. Concerning the martyrs who suffered at Alexandria. XXXIV. Concerning the things which Dionysius wrote. XXXVII. Concerning the things which Dionysius wrote to Novatus. — By the soldiers of Christ the contests of martyrdom were waged for the sake of true religion, but especially at Alexandria, whither from all Egypt and the Thebaid, as into a certain arena of piety, the athletes were led down, who by their endurance of torments [won the crown]; among whom Leonides, the father of Origen, was beheaded for the martyrdom of Christ, and left behind the aforesaid boy, still of tender age.

And with what spirit he flourished from his earliest days in the pursuit of the divine law, it will not be out of place to set forth in a few words, especially since among very many the opinion prevails that his story should be handed down in the records of literature. It is certain that the things concerning him are so many and so great that they would require a work of their own and much leisure. Yet for the present we shall insert into this work, with all the brevity we can, those matters also which pertain to him — a few out of many — such as seem worthy of the memory of posterity, whether drawn from his own letters to us. For Severus was passing the tenth year of his reign, and at that same time Laetus presided over Alexandria and all Egypt, while Demetrius had taken up the episcopate there after Julian, when:

When the fire of persecution was kindled beyond measure, and many in that storm were crowned with martyrdom, the little boy was carried away with such ardor to seize martyrdom that he would rush headlong into the midst of those set in the contest, so that he seemed to pursue death itself and to wish to snatch it — which he could by all means have attained, had he not, by the Lord's dispensation, been preserved (as is believed) for the profit of many and for the building up of the whole Church, through the anxious care of his mother. She entreated him with supplications to have regard for himself and to spare his mother; but he was rendered by these prayers only the more inflamed with the love of martyrdom, especially because he had learned that his father was already held in chains, and he himself was hastening to become a partner of his bonds and of his martyrdom. When she perceived by a mother's instinct that he was about to break forth to the contests of the arena, she entered by night the bedchamber of her sleeping son and stole away all the garments in which he could go out in public, so that by this he might be compelled by necessity to remain at home.

He, hindered by his mother's wiles, since he could do nothing else, yet wrote to his father that he should not on his mother's account let himself be held back, but ought to hold fast to what he had begun. And he adds this also: 'See, father, that you do not for our sake wish anything otherwise.' These were the first childish beginnings of Origen, this the play of his infancy, these from his tender years the tokens of religion and piety; such was in him his zeal toward God — to take part in the faith and to exercise himself not sluggishly in the instructions of the divine faith, since indeed he had already begun to be imbued in these things by his father as well, who little by little, among the secular books in which he was instructed in his earliest age, would also set before him from time to time some portions of our Scriptures to be read.

Then, from that point, he also required the boy day by day to recite his lessons and to commit them to memory — and the boy was not unwilling, but rather he compelled him, already the more eager to learn these things; for in reading them he seemed not content with the plain literal sense alone, but would stir up questions for his father about the meanings and difficulties of Scripture, asking him what he thought was meant by Scripture being said to be inspired through the Holy Spirit, or what design of the divine counsel that simplicity of words concealed. His father would indeed pretend to rebuke him and to forbid him to inquire into anything beyond his years, yet within himself he rejoiced beyond belief, giving thanks to almighty God, who had granted him to be the father of such offspring.

In short, it is often related that the devout and solicitous father, coming upon the boy as he slept, would draw back the covering from his breast, and, as though the Spirit of God were enclosed within, would reverence his breast as a kind of temple and, caressing it with kisses, depart — congratulating himself on having been made blessed by God in the happiness of so great a child. These things and many like them are recorded to have occurred in Origen's boyhood. But when his father was perfected by martyrdom, the boy himself, with his widowed mother and six other little brothers, being in his seventeenth year, was left in the utmost want of means, since indeed the paternal estate, which had been very large, was joined to the imperial treasury by confiscation.

Yet the providence of almighty God did not fail him. For because of his remarkable zeal both for letters and for religion, he began to be very familiarly cherished by a certain noble and exceedingly wealthy woman. She, however, had at that time in her household, as an adopted son, a certain Paul, a native of Antioch and a most notorious adherent of an ancient heresy. And in this matter the young Origen, though he was under the necessity of living together with the said woman, showed even from boyhood a proof of his most faithful and catholic mind.

For although immense crowds gathered day by day to the aforesaid man as to a master and a teacher of the highest reputation — not only of heretics, but also of many of our own people, because the highest learning was conceded to him by all — yet by no means, neither for honor's sake nor even because of the necessity of their living together, could Origen be induced so much as to stand with him in prayer. So honorable to him from his earliest years was the observance of the ecclesiastical rule, and so detestable the fellowship of heretics, as he himself says in a certain place of his work, that the teaching of heretics is to be abhorred.

Nor yet did he lack zeal for the common studies of letters, in which his father had handed him over to be instructed; but he applied himself in these also much more attentively even after his father's death. For in the art of grammar he had been so well trained that he was fully sufficient even to teach it, and from this were provided for him those things that seemed necessary for maintaining his household.

But while he presided over a school and taught grammar — as he himself relates in certain of his writings — and while at Alexandria the office of teaching in the Church was vacant, and all had fled, driven off by the threats and savagery of the persecutors, a number of the heathen came to Origen, who was then still teaching grammar, desiring to hear from him the word concerning our faith and religion. These he not only converted from unbelief to the faith, but also formed by the disciplines of a perfect life. The first of them was Plutarch, who, converted through him to our faith, not only kept the disciplines of a perfect life, but also — which is the height of blessedness — attained the palm of martyrdom.

The second after him was Heraclas, both by nature and by merit a brother of Plutarch, who, having been perfectly instructed by him in our faith and knowledge, and also in the disciplines of a purer life, was appointed to preside over the church of Alexandria after Demetrius. But at the time when, with Aquila governing Alexandria and Egypt, the fury of the persecutions was increasing, Origen was in his eighteenth year.

At which time his name became most renowned among all, both unbelievers and faithful, at home and abroad, especially through this: that all the saints who were placed in the bonds of confession he strengthened toward martyrdom not only by discourse and the exhortation of perfect and spiritual doctrine, but also relieved them by his many services and ministries from the pains of their bonds and the squalor of prison. Often, indeed, he was present even before the tribunals of the judges and amid their very tortures, suffering with them in affection and mind against the profane interrogations of the judges, and eager, by his countenance and nods, if it may be so said, to suggest to them, as it were, firmer answers.

But even when they had received their sentence, he showed the same boldness, thrusting himself into every danger and not fearing, while the persecutors looked on, to greet the martyrs even with a last kiss, so that sometimes on their account an assault was even made upon him by the heathen; yet, protected by the divine right hand, he escaped, to the amazement of all. Indeed, it can neither easily be numbered nor told how often and how frequently — nay, almost every single day — that same divine right hand preserved him from how many and what great dangers, while he was tireless and ready in the preaching of the word of God, and how often, when ambushes were laid by those who would secretly kill him, he escaped.

And, while he was ready in the work of God, he so stirred up against himself the madness of the unbelievers that troops of soldiers, stationed there, besieged the house in which he was thought to be dwelling; yet they could not seize or hold him, preserved as he was by the divine protection. So great a fury against him had entered the minds of men for this alone: that they saw very many being converted through him from unbelief to our faith. And so much did the persecution against him mount up daily that the whole great city of Alexandria could not hide him, but he passed from house to house. And yet he was driven off on every side, since they saw in each place very many being joined through him to the faith of God.

Now he prevailed in these things because he had perfect doctrine not only in word but also gave examples of consummate discipline in deed; and it was said of him, as they report, that this was the man who — such as his word was, such was his life, and such as his life was, such was his word — since what he taught he did, and what he did, this he taught. Manifestly and evidently the divine grace was present with him, through which he provoked countless people to the imitation of himself unto the faith of God. Wherefore Demetrius the bishop also, seeing that very great multitudes flocked to him because of the grace of his surpassing teaching and of his preaching of the word of God, granted to him the office of catechizing, that is, of teaching in the church.

This office, at Alexandria, the first after the apostles Pantaenus administered, the second in order Clement, the third Origen, the disciple of that same Clement. This Clement, in his work the Stromateis, where in the prefaces he also indicated the times at which he was writing the books, carried it down to the end of the reign of Commodus; whence it is certain that it embraced these very times of Severus which we now have in hand. At which period also a certain other writer, Judas, discoursed on the weeks that are recounted in Daniel; he too mentions the tenth year of the reign of the emperor Severus. He, moreover, reckoning from the excess of the persecutions that the noised-abroad presence of Antichrist was now close at hand, disturbed the minds of many of our faithful.

Therefore Origen, the office of teaching having been enjoined upon him by Bishop Demetrius, began to neglect the school of grammar, devoting himself rather to the word of God. And indeed he employed a counsel by no means childish. He handed over his library of pagan books to a certain faithful friend, having agreed with him that four obols out of its price should be brought to him each day, so that, namely, he might neither be a burden to anyone in the necessity of sustaining his livelihood, nor seem to keep amassed money at home.

Therefore, spending most of his time in such pursuits, he was reckoned in all respects a Christian philosopher — in life, in character, in exercises — since, both for the restraining of youthful desires and for the sake of wisdom, he curbed himself with reins and unceasingly clung to the meditation of the divine books, in much abstinence, in unceasing fasts, in almost continual vigils; so that whenever natural necessity demanded a little sleep, he would take it not upon a couch, which he used not at all, but stretched out upon the surface of the bare ground.

But above all he judged that the evangelical precepts and the words of the Savior were to be fulfilled with the utmost love and zeal — those by which it is commanded not to have two tunics, nor to use shoes, nor to be anxious about the morrow — and he strove to fulfill each of these with the greatest diligence and faith, and, beyond his strength and his age, according to the apostle's admonitions, he sweated in cold and nakedness in the contests of endurance. Thus he offered to all his hearers examples of renouncing all that they possessed and of blessed poverty. He was therefore through these things dear and acceptable to all, in this one thing rendering very many sorrowful and offending some — namely, that those who wished to bestow on him at least something of their own means,

to minister to him for the sake of his sustenance — this he refused, on account of his strict discipline of self-restraint, though certainly, for the labor by which he sweated in the word of God, he was esteemed by all worthy not only of double honor, according to the apostle, but of manifold honor. But he reckoned the highest honor for himself to lie in self-restraint. In short, for many years he is said to have gone about with bare feet, without any shoes at all; and of the use of wine and of other like things he had absolutely none, save only those that the necessity of life demanded, until he was compelled by an ailment of the stomach — nay, by what was now almost a danger.

Forming therefore by such examples of his life and conduct those whom he had converted from a heathen life and foolish philosophy to the true philosophy and wisdom of Christ, he taught them not only to hold faith in the inmost secrets of the soul — by the fact that they saw done by him the things that were taught — but also provoked them to the love of martyrdom through those things by which they were strengthened in daily exercise. Of these many, seized in the persecution, attained the palm of martyrdom. Among them the first was Plutarch, whom we mentioned a little above. And because by his exhortation he would raise up Plutarch's spirit to magnanimity, the crowd rushed upon him as though he were the author of his death, and all but tore him to pieces and killed him, had he not even then, by the aid of divine providence, been snatched from the hands of the raging mob.

After the martyrdom of Plutarch, the second of Origen's disciples was made a martyr and crowned; the fourth was Heron, a neophyte. For the aforementioned Serenus was perfected while still a catechumen. A fifth of the same school was made a martyr, another named Serenus, who, after many tortures for Christ, is reported to have been also beheaded. And there were very many women as well, among whom was a certain Hera, a catechumen, of whom he himself says in a certain place that she was perfected by a baptism of fire. But there was also Potamiaena, most renowned of women and of martyrs, and her own executioner Basilides.

For indeed even down to our own memory the perpetual fame of Potamiaena's virtues is celebrated by the inhabitants of the place: that she first sweated through immense and innumerable contests for the sake of her virginity and chastity, then also endured exquisite and unheard-of torments for the sake of martyrdom, and at last, together with her venerable mother Marcella, was perfected by the punishment of fire.

They relate, then, that Aquila — for this was the name of the tyrannical judge — after he had torn her with cruel tortures, at last, on account of the outrage against both her nobility and her chastity, threatened Potamiaena that he would hand her over either to the most cruel gladiators or to the most shameless procurers; but when she was asked what she would prefer or what she would choose, she uttered against the tyrant a free word, which, because of the superstition of the Roman rite, might seem sacrilegious; and therefore, without delay — as it is the custom for the officer to fulfill the office of executioner — he took her up and led her to punishment. And when a crowd of the shameless and likewise impious tried to mock Potamiaena with words and insults, Basilides began, more boldly, to drive off and thrust back those who rushed upon her, under the guise of humanity and compassion.

But she said, 'Be it so; and when I have gone to my Lord, I shall without delay obtain for you the reward of this kindness.' After these words she steadfastly received the appointed punishments — of hot pitch poured little by little over her limbs and members — and in this manner the blessed virgin passed from the earth to heaven. Not many days after, when Basilides was required to take an oath, he said that it was by no means lawful for him to swear, for the reason that he was a Christian; and this he confessed publicly. At first he was thought to be speaking in jest; but then, when he affirmed it more constantly, he was dragged to the tribunal, where, when he had persevered in his confession, he was handed over to bonds.

Then indeed, to those inquiring the reason of his visitation, he is reported to have said that Potamiaena, on the third day after her martyrdom, standing by him at night, placed a crown upon his head, saying that she had entreated the Lord for him and had obtained her request — that, according to what is written, he who receives a martyr should obtain a martyr's reward. At that time she is reported to have rendered a like favor to her fellow disciples at Alexandria, with whom Potamiaena had labored in the word of God in Origen's school, standing by them in a vision and obtaining for them the crowns of martyrdom. And while Origen presided over the school, a deed is related of him which may perhaps seem to be of a youthful and less than perfect mind, yet was a token of perfect faith and of exceeding chastity.

For that which is written in the Gospel — that there are those who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven — he believed was to be fulfilled according to the letter, not only under the pretext of chastity, but because in the time of persecution, as much in public as in secret, he wished to cut off from unbelievers every occasion of shameful slander. And though he did this so as not to seek praise from men, but to keep it hidden as far as he could, yet the report of the deed reached Bishop Demetrius. And he at first marveled with immense astonishment at the courage of his bold spirit, then, praising the greatness and the ardor of his faith and so great a resolve in the work of God, said: 'Now, now especially,'

exhorting him: 'persist in the work of teaching and preaching that you have begun, since to your adversaries no ground of suspicion for detraction has been left.' But such, indeed, was Demetrius's judgment then, when nothing had entered his mind to incline the rule of right judgment to the other side. Afterward, however, when he had seen that the young man's fame was becoming quite renowned and that he was extolled with great acclaim both at home and abroad, suffering something of human weakness, he afterward began to defame the deed which he himself had earlier praised with immense admiration.

For when in Palestine the chief and eminent men among the bishops — that is, Alexander of Jerusalem and Theoctistus of Caesarea — seeing his divine work in the word of God, had ordained him presbyter and judged him now already worthy of the highest priesthood, and when this was praised by all as most worthily done, and it was said that not even so was an honor worthy of his wisdom and virtues conferred upon him — this word bit Demetrius most vehemently. And, finding in him no ground for any other charge, that deed which he had once done while still a boy, and which this very bishop had then praised, he afterward brought forward in place of a crime, and now he tries to turn the blame even upon those who had ordained him. But these things were done later.

At that time, moreover, Origen was reckoned a very illustrious teacher of the church at Alexandria, preaching the word of God to all whom his fame stirred up to come together to hear him — as the apostle says, in season, out of season, by day and by night, publicly and privately — as though all hindrances had been cut off, wholly free. Now when Severus had held the empire for eighteen years, his son Antoninus succeeded him. At which time there were very many who had sought glory in confessions, and yet had been preserved by the providence of God.

Among these a certain Alexander, whom we mentioned a little before, quite renowned under the title of confession, was appointed bishop of the church of Jerusalem, while Narcissus, who had formerly discharged the office of the episcopate there, was still living. But since the course of the narrative has brought in the memory of Narcissus, it seems fitting to me to record something of his notable deeds, concerning whom very many things are indeed handed down to memory by the inhabitants of the place. We, however, shall record one work of his, from which credence may deservedly be given to the rest of what is told of him. On one occasion the oil for the Paschal lamps was lacking; and when this became known through the ministers, there was very great sorrow among the people. But Narcissus, trusting in faith, commanded the ministers and ordered water to be poured into the lamps.

Then suddenly, by a marvelous kind of miracle, unheard of through the ages, the nature of the water, turned into the richness of oil, made the splendor of the lights even brighter than usual. And for proof of the matter, by very many of the religious brethren some of that very oil, which had been turned from water, was kept in reserve, so that even down to our own day a token of this miracle has reached us. And let this indeed be held as an example of his faith and merit; but how great the virtue of his spirit was in him will be declared no less by another single deed among his works.

For he, since among the other goods of his virtues he was of a very steadfast spirit and unswervingly tenacious of what is just and right, certain worthless little men, evil in their own consciences, fearing that they could not escape the punishment of their crimes if they were exposed, forestalled him with intrigues and prepared to circumvent him whose judgment they dreaded. They therefore contrived against him a sufficiently infamous and hurtful charge. Hearers assemble; they produce witnesses from among their own number, who under oath swear — one testifying that he spoke the truth, with a curse that he might be consumed by fire if he lied; another that he might be wasted by the royal disease; a third that he might be deprived of his eyes. And although not even these oaths were believed by any of the faithful and God-fearing, because

the life and conduct and chastity of Narcissus were known to all — yet he himself, not bearing the indignity and vexation of the things that had been stirred up, and at the same time always desiring to lead a secluded and philosophic life, fled the multitude of the church and hid himself in desert places and more retired little fields for very many years. But that great eye of divine providence does not rest for long, but contrives vengeance upon the impious through those very curses which they had appointed for themselves in their perjuries. For that first witness, when in the night-time his house was set ablaze by a small spark of fire, was burned up with all his kindred and all his household in the avenging flames.

Another was suddenly filled and consumed, from the soles of his feet to the very crown of his head, by the royal disease which he had called down upon himself. But the third of the aforementioned, seeing the fate of the former ones, with all listening, in late repentance disclosed in their midst the whole order of the fabricated crime. And with such great tears did he bewail the monstrous thing committed that in the end he was deprived of his eyes. These men, therefore, paid such penalties for their fabrication.

Narcissus, therefore, since he had thus sought the wilderness and hidden himself in more secluded places, so that no one knew where he was living, it seemed necessary to the bishops of the neighboring churches that they should ordain another in his place, whose name was Dius; and to him, when he had presided over the church for a short time, succeeded Germanion, and to Germanion Gordius — when, behold, suddenly, as though come back to life and restored from heaven, Narcissus unexpectedly appeared, and was again asked by the brethren to preside over the church. For the love of all toward him had been kindled much more vehemently, both because he, though innocent, had yielded to his accusers, and because he had loved a secluded and philosophic life, and because the Lord fulfilled in him the saying:

'Vengeance is mine, and I will repay, says the Lord.' But when he himself, now wearied with old age, could no longer suffice for the ministry of the episcopate, the divine dispensation, by most evident revelations, called forth Alexander — whom we mentioned above, and who was already bishop of another place — to the aid of the aged Narcissus. For this Alexander, of the race of the Cappadocians, where he was bishop of a distinguished city, had hastened to Jerusalem for the sake of worshiping and of seeing the holy places. Him the inhabitants of the place, God instigating their minds, received with all love and dutifulness, and, holding him bound by the ties of charity and affection, would not permit him to return home.

For it was evidently shown by the Lord, not only to the blessed man Narcissus himself, but also to very many others among the people through revelations, that they should keep him as bishop in the holy place. Moreover — and this above all the rest — when a very great multitude of the brethren had gone out beyond the gates to meet him, a voice from heaven was most manifestly made, all hearing it, saying: 'Receive the bishop who has been destined for you by God.' And when from all these things the dispensation of God had been evidently declared before all, the bishops of the neighboring cities, having learned all by which they were taught that the matter concerning him was being carried out by the judgment of God, of necessity compelled him to remain there.

This Alexander, then, in his letters written to the Antinoites, which are preserved among us up to the present, mentions Narcissus as a companion and colleague in the episcopate, writing of him in these very words: 'Narcissus salutes you, who before me began to govern the episcopate of this church, and who, placed together with me, by your prayers now bears one hundred and sixteen years of his life, and who himself likewise beseeches you together with me.' And of these matters such is the account. But at Antioch, when Serapion had died, his successor was of the illustrious number of confessors. The aforesaid Alexander mentions also this ordination, writing to the Antiochenes in this manner: 'Alexander, servant and prisoner of Jesus Christ, to the blessed church which is at Antioch, greeting in the Lord.'

'The Lord has lightened my bonds and has enlarged the straits of this my prison, from the fact that I have learned that Asclepiades, a most worthy man, has taken up the priesthood of your holy church.' And he indicates that he sent this letter by Clement, a presbyter of the church of Antioch, writing at the end of the letter in this manner: 'These things, my lord brethren, I have sent to you in writing by Clement, the blessed presbyter, a man most approved in all virtues, whom you also know and will come to know still more fully.'

whose presence among us, procured by the providence of God, both confirmed and increased the church. There is also a letter of his which he writes to a certain Domnus, who in the time of persecution, departing from the faith of Christ, turned aside to Jewish superstition; and those which he writes to Pontius and Caricus, men of the church. And there are no fewer other letters of his to others. But that book also came to us which he writes out of concern for the brethren who were at Rhossus, who, on occasion of that very writing, were turning aside into heresy. Yet it seems to me worthwhile to insert a few things from his little book, from which it may become known what his judgment was concerning that very writing. He writes, then, in a certain place thus: 'Christ...'

But as for those writings which have been falsely composed by others under their name, 'we turn away from them as men who know their mind and judgment, aware that such things were not handed down to us. For when I was among you I supposed that you were all of the right faith, and, without having read through the little book that was offered to me, I said only that whatever seems to introduce discord among you should be read as a codex. But now, having learned that those who assert that this codex ought to be read demanded that this be done for the sake of a certain hidden heresy, as has been told me, I will hasten to come to you again; therefore expect me shortly.'

'He himself proved to be at variance with us, not understanding what he was saying; these things also you shall learn from what has been written to you, matters investigated by us from those who had learned this very Gospel according to his own tradition. And of this same doctrine of theirs there are very many opinions borrowed from them; for it is certain that in very many things they think rightly concerning the Saviour, but in other things otherwise, which things we have also appended below.' Of Clement's books there are very many, but among us there are those which are the Commentaries of Titus Flavius Clement on the true philosophy of knowledge.

These we may call his Outlines or Dispositions, in which he mentions Pantaenus by name as his own teacher, and writes down very many of his expositions, and inserts his traditions into his own work. There is also a book of his, an exhortation addressed to the Gentiles; and another book which is called the Pedagogue; and another which is entitled 'Who is the rich man that can be saved?'; and another little treatise on the Pasch, and a discussion on fasting and on detraction; and another exhortation to patience; and another to the newly baptized; and also that one which is entitled the Ecclesiastical Canon; likewise another concerning those who follow the Jewish sense in the Scriptures, which he writes to Alexander, the bishop above mentioned.

But in the Stromata he lays out not only what he had taken from the divine Scriptures, but also what is found among the Greek authors. For it seemed useful to him in that work to compare and set side by side the doctrines, whether those which have been divinely sanctioned, or those discovered by the wise men of the Greeks, or even those held by the other barbarians. He also refutes the errors of the heretics, and weaves in there very much history as well, and out of all this he wove together for us the material of a perfect erudition with a certain careful and varied diversity. He also uses examples even from those books which by some are held to be by no means admissible, that is, from the book which is called the Wisdom of Solomon, and from the Wisdom of Sirach; and he sets forth examples from the epistle.

He also makes use of the Epistle of Jude. Moreover he mentions the writings of the ancients, of a certain Tatian and of Cassian, as of those who wrote Chronicles; also of Philo and Aristobulus and Josephus and Demetrius and Eupolemus, Jewish writers, comparing our Moses even with the most ancient of the Greeks, and proving that the race of the Jews is more ancient. And he wove into that work many other instruments of the best instruction. And among other things he indicates in the first book that he himself lived not long after the apostles, and he promises that he will write commentaries on Genesis. But in the little book which he writes concerning the Pasch, he confesses that he was compelled ...

... that he was pressed by the brethren to set down in books, and hand on to posterity, those things which had been delivered to him by word of mouth alone from the presbyters, that is, from the successors of the apostles. He there mentions Melito and Irenaeus and the rest, of whom I too shall speak, and he expounded the whole of divine Scripture alike in concise dissertations. In these he did not even pass over those things which by some are held to be apocryphal, such as the Revelation of Peter. But concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews he discourses thus: that it is manifestly by Paul the apostle, but was written in the Hebrew tongue as to Hebrews, and was translated into Greek by Luke, who was Paul's disciple. Whence also its style seems more like that little book which Luke wrote concerning the Acts of the Apostles.

But as to why it does not there bear the customary superscription, that is, 'Paul the apostle,' he shows there is a reason: because the Hebrews were prejudiced against the name of Paul, so as not to receive his words, and therefore he prudently declined it, lest at the very outset, on seeing the name of Paul, they should reject the reading of it. And, as he says, 'the blessed presbyter used to say that, since the Lord, being the apostle of the Almighty, is said to have been sent to the Hebrews, therefore out of humility Paul, who had been appointed to the Gentiles, did not write himself down as an apostle of the Hebrews, both out of reverence for the Lord, who had said He was sent to the sheep [of the house of Israel], and because he was overflowing as an apostle to the Gentiles.' The same Clement in those very little books sets forth, concerning the order of the Gospels, a tradition delivered to him by the elder presbyters, and he says that those Gospels were written first which contain the genealogies, that is, those of Matthew and Luke.

But the occasion of the Gospel according to Mark was this: when Peter had publicly expounded the Gospel in the Spirit, the hearers begged Mark, who had long since been his follower, to write down the things which he knew had been preached by the apostle. And when Peter afterwards came to know of this, though he did not himself command that it be done, yet he did not forbid what had been done. But of John he says that afterwards, when he had seen that in the Gospels those things chiefly which pertain to the flesh were set forth, being entreated by the disciples he wrote also the things that pertain to the spirit; whence, filled with the Spirit, he composed a spiritual Gospel. Thus far Clement.

But Alexander, of whom we made mention above, writing to Origen, mentions Clement and Pantaenus together, as men who had also been known to him in person. And he writes in this manner: 'For this too was the will of God, as you yourself know, that the friendships which came to me from the fathers should endure inviolate — nay rather, that they should grow more ardently and more strongly. For we know as fathers those blessed men who went before us, to whom a little while hence we too shall depart: I mean Pantaenus, my truly blessed and holy lord, and my lord Clement, who instructed me in many things; and also any others such as they were, through whom I have come to know you too, a man in all things excellent, and my lord and brother.' These things are so.

But Adamantius — for this too was a name of Origen — when at that time Zephyrinus [was bishop] of the Roman church, [desired] that it should be granted him to see the most ancient church of the Romans. And when no long time had there been spent, he hastened to return to Alexandria to the office of teaching enjoined upon him, and there with all diligence and religious zeal he was fulfilling the work he had undertaken; Demetrius, then bishop, not only exhorting and encouraging him, but also promoting it, that instruction in divine learning might not be lacking to the brethren.

Meanwhile, when Origen saw that he was not sufficient for all things — that is, whether in dealing with deeper and more divine matters, or in discoursing on the expositions of holy Scripture, or in fulfilling the instructions and lessons of those who were daily being added to the faith — from all of which not even the free time of a single hour was granted him so much as to breathe, since he was ever being called from one task to another, so that from first light until deep evening his lecture-room never ceased, some coming in and others not departing, while they were bound together by the sweetness of the word of God — he judged it more profitable to set apart the crowds of beginners, and to hand them over to one of his disciples, a man now fully and excellently instructed and approved to him in all virtues, Heraclas, and to take him as a partner in his office and labour.

For he was most eloquent in speech and thoroughly trained in all philosophical learning. To him therefore he assigned the office of delivering the first elements to beginners, reserving to himself the instruction of the more advanced. Among the other pursuits of his learning, Origen did not omit even this, to search out and learn also the excellence of the Hebrew tongue, so that he might come to know both what sort of things they are which are read by the Jews in the Hebrew letters, and, of the other translators who had translated besides the Seventy, how great was the diversity of editions; so that besides those which are in use — of Aquila, of Symmachus, or of Theodotion — he found also other translators' writings.

But he says only this concerning them: that he found one on the shore of Actium near Nicopolis, another in Jericho, and yet others in other places. Whence he himself first composed those most famous codices, in which, through separate columns, he set out the work distinctly: that he might place [the text] in the Hebrew letters, in the second place through the order of Greek letters transcribe the Hebrew words opposite; then he would subjoin as third the edition of Aquila, as fourth that of Symmachus, as fifth that of the Seventy translators, which is ours, and as sixth he would place that of Theodotion. And on account of a composition of this kind, [these are called] the writings [Hexapla].

But in the Psalter and in some others he inserts something also from those other editions, which, since he had found them without the names of their authors, [he left anonymous]. [Symmachus taught] that the man born of Mary was a mere man, and that the Law was to be observed according to the Jewish rite, as we have already mentioned above. And Symmachus himself also composed certain commentaries, in which he attempts to confirm the authority of his heresy from the Gospel according to Matthew.

Origen himself writes that he found these very things, together with the interpretation of Symmachus himself, in the possession of a certain Juliana, who said that she had received these books from Symmachus himself. Among these [times] also a certain Ambrose, a man of considerable distinction both in birth and in letters, while he was a follower of the doctrine of Valentinus, being convicted by Origen according to the truth of the catholic faith, and as though irradiated by the splendour of the true light, forsook the darkness of his errors and turned himself to the light and splendour of the catholic Church.

But also many other learned men, exceedingly noble in the knowledge of letters, when the most glorious repute concerning Origen was celebrated through every place, flocked eagerly to him — some to stir up contests, but others, in whom there was a more upright judgment of mind, to hear and to hold fast the truth. Countless men also, coming from the heretics, convicted by him and repenting, ceased from their error. The most esteemed too of the philosophers, and those who were held in the highest name, confessed him an incomparable master, both in our teachings and in their own.

For this was his custom: that if he saw any of our young men to be ingenious and sufficiently devoted to reading, he would deliver to them also those things with which the philosophers are wont to imbue their learners as with first elements, that is, either the parts of geometry, or the discipline of arithmetic, and whatever other things pertain to the instruction of disputation. If then at any time necessity demanded that he should expound something from the books of the philosophers, he was heard even by the most learned men in that discipline with such great admiration, that he was held among them to be a supreme philosopher, and as it were one of those ancient and foremost authors.

He also exhorted many untutored and unskilled men to learning, saying that no small profit toward the understanding of the Scriptures would be conferred on them if they were exercised either in liberal letters or even in philosophical studies. For he said that this our [religion] was the true philosophy, whose parts that Greek philosophy — which is not the true one — had taught by way of precept. Therefore he did not think that truth ought on that account to give up its own parts, because [the Greeks] had [claimed] them for themselves. In short, there exist very many witnesses of his studies, even among the philosophers, some of whom used to dedicate their books to him, while others brought them to be approved by his judgment.

Finally, even that man who in Sicily wrote books against us, Porphyry, in which he arraigns the divine volumes, when he had come to their expositors and could find nothing in the commentaries of Origen to which he might ascribe fault, turned himself to revilings and slanders and fastens blemishes upon him — a man most worthy of all praise among us — in some things indeed speaking truly, but in others, after his manner, inventing falsehoods. And now indeed he admires him as a philosopher, but now again brands him as a Christian.

Hear then, he says, speaking of the Christians, to what absurdities of the Jewish Scriptures they cling, in which, since there is no resolution or explanation, they turn to certain incongruous and unfitting narratives, which serve not so much for the explanation of the things that are obscure as to procure praise and applause for those who discourse. For those things which Moses wrote in a rustic and simple style, they affirm to be divinely sanctioned and covered over with figures and enigmas, and, puffed up and swollen in mind as though filled with mighty mysteries, having confounded within themselves the judgment of human reason, they suppose them to be sacraments, in which the unskilled and rustic writer is unable to explain himself.

But the beginning of this absurd exposition proceeded from a man whom I too, while I was still very young, saw holding the citadel of all erudition, as is also proved from those volumes which he handed down to the memory of posterity. This is Origen, whose immense glory is held among their teachers. For he was a hearer of Ammonius, who held the highest place among the philosophers, our predecessors. But Origen, as far indeed as pertains to erudition in letters, transfused almost the whole of his master into himself; yet as far as regards the line of an upright life and a sound purpose, he went a road contrary to his teacher.

For Ammonius, inasmuch as he had been a Christian from childhood and born of Christian parents, when he came to the age of understanding and touched upon the gate of philosophy, straightway betook himself to the lawful course of life. Origen, on the contrary, declined the barbarous rite of religion [into which he had been born]; and betaking himself thither, he vitiated and corrupted that whole distinguished talent of his, polished with philosophical letters — living indeed as a Christian and impiously, but as regards doctrine and the erudition of the Greeks, [decking out] the resplendent light [of it] with foolish and fabulous tales. He had been instructed in the books of Numenius and Cronius and Apollophanes and Longinus, and also of Moderatus and Nicomachus; and among the Pythagoreans, [in] the volumes of the foremost men and of Cornutus.

Out of all of which he adapted to the Jewish [writings] whatever was secret and mystical, and [applied] the glory of the philosophers to foreign and alien doctrines. These things Porphyry writes in the third book against the Christians, in the one part recording true things, in the other false. For in what he records concerning [Origen's] studies and the power of his talent, [he speaks truly]; but when he records that [Origen] was translated from Gentile superstition to the worship of the Christians, and that Ammonius fell away from the Christians to the errors of the pagans, he most manifestly lied. For to Origen the faith and discipline of Christ was preserved from his grandfathers and forefathers, since concerning his father the martyr we related a little while ago.

And that he preserved it unimpaired, even until he breathed out the last breath of his life, his books are witnesses, which are even now extant, most brilliantly composed concerning our religion — and especially that volume which he wrote concerning the concord of Moses and Jesus, and also many other excellent little works of his, which are held in the highest esteem by all the studious. And these things we have said, desiring to prove even by the testimonies of his enemies how wonderful, and how highly regarded even among them, was the erudition and learning of Origen.

But he himself, replying concerning himself to certain persons who reproached him for studies of this kind, [writes] thus: 'When I had turned myself to the studies of the word of God, and the report concerning us was held more celebrated, and on that account not a few of the philosophers were stirred up either to make inquiry, and very many of them also to assail us, it seemed good to me to search out more diligently the doctrines both of the philosophers and of the heretics, lest I should be found less prepared for the convicting of them, if I were ignorant of what things are held among them.'

'And this we did, following the example of our predecessor [Pantaenus], who flourished exceedingly in these pursuits; and also of Heraclas, who now adorns the presbyter's chair at Alexandria, whom I found at the school of the master of the philosophers, already for some years now giving his labour to those studies, before ever I so much as began. And so much [did he give himself to them], that, laying nothing aside of what he had formerly worn [as a Christian], he took up the philosopher's garb, which he has not ceased to use up to the present, and to read the books of the philosophers.' These things he himself writes, replying to certain complainers on his own behalf.

About the same time there suddenly appears a certain military man, [bearing] letters both to him and to Demetrius the bishop, but urging with speed and insistence that Origen be sent all the way thither, to discourse to him concerning the faith of Christ, which frequent report announced was being most illustriously preached through him. Entreated by them, he departs, he instructs, they believe, he returns. But after some little time, civil war having broken out at Alexandria, [he went to] another [place], where too the office of disputing in the church and of expounding the divine Scriptures was enjoined upon him by the bishops — and this though the ordination of a presbyter had not yet been conferred upon him — as we have found related in the letter of Alexander writing back to Demetrius long afterward, when he was finding fault with these very things.

And he writes thus: 'But as to what you added in your letter, that it was never heard of nor at any time done, that laymen should discourse in the presence of bishops, I know not for what cause you have chosen to assert so open a falsehood, since it is the custom that, wherever there are found men able to instruct the brethren, they are invited by the [bishops to do so]: as Euelpis was by our brother Neon at Laranda, and Paulinus by Celsus at Iconium, and at Synnada Theodorus by Atticus. And there is no doubt that many others also in other places [have been so invited], such as are men able to fulfil competently the work of God in word and doctrine.' But these things were done afterwards.

But then again Demetrius sent letters to him by chosen men, deacons of the church, requesting with all affection that he return to Alexandria and apply himself to his accustomed work. Now about the same time very many most eloquent men flourished in the churches, whose letters, which they gave to one another, we found preserved even to our own day in the library at Jerusalem, which that most learned man, of whom we made mention above, Alexander the bishop of that place, had built; whence we too — that we may confess what is true — took the material for this whole work of ours and for the writing of our history. Among the rest, then, there was also Beryllus, a distinguished writer, who himself too left behind various little works.

This man was bishop at Bostra, a very great city of Arabia. There was likewise also Hippolytus, who himself too left behind some writings, a bishop. There also came to us the disputation of a certain Gaius, a most eloquent man, held against Proclus the Cataphrygian in the city of Rome, in the presence of the bishop Zephyrinus. When he was convicting the Cataphrygian of presuming to himself certain new scriptures, he himself among other things asserts that there are thirteen epistles of Paul the apostle, not mentioning that one which was written to the Hebrews, which even now among the Latins is thought not to be of the apostle Paul. Now Antoninus, having completed seven years and six months of empire, Macrinus succeeds.

When he had died after a year, another Antoninus took up the principate of the Roman kingdom. In the first year of his empire, Zephyrinus the bishop of the city of Rome met his day [of death], having exercised the priestly office for eighteen years. After him Callistus took up the priesthood; and when he had administered it for five years, at his end he left the see to Urban. But after Antoninus, Alexander took up the Roman empire, which he himself had held for only four years. Then also, Asclepiades having died at Antioch, Philetus succeeds to the episcopate.

But the mother of the emperor Alexander, Mamaea by name, a religious woman such as are rare, when the report concerning Origen was held magnificent everywhere and most celebrated — so much so that not even to princes was his presence [readily granted] — [desired] to obtain for herself in person the evidences of him in letters, in speech, in faith, in prudence, and in all that learning which she perceived to be the admiration of all.

Therefore [she summoned him] to Antioch, where at that time she was residing, having sent military men with all honour and supplication [to fetch him]; and when he had come to her and had accomplished as much of the work and of the time as was fitting, all things having been duly performed which pertain to the word of God and the glory of the Lord, leaving behind stable and firm in the faith those whom he had instructed, having become by his presence far more illustrious than by report, he returned to his own schools at Alexandria. Among his other writings, he published a little book written on the Pasch.

In which, when he made a certain description of the times concerning the cycle of sixteen years which is wont to be observed in the reckoning of the Pasch, following I know not what computation, [he reckoned] all the times up to the first year of the emperor Alexander. [He wrote] also on the Hexaemeron, and on those things which are written after the Hexaemeron, and against Marcion, and on the Song of Songs, and on a certain part of Ezekiel the prophet, and against all heresies. But also other little works of his among others take their beginning from the holy Scriptures, Ambrose urging him on and compelling him with much force of prayers and entreaties. And this Ambrose brought to bear so much zeal that he supplied abundantly and lavishly all things that were necessary for this work.

He engaged seven shorthand-writers, who should stand by him unceasingly and should succeed one another in turn while he dictated almost without pause; and also as many other copyists, and moreover girls [skilled in fair writing], with all other external necessaries most abundantly supplied. Thus the vehement and devout enforcer exacted a daily work of the word of God from him; and he himself too of his own accord applied immense zeal to the erudition of the word of God. Whence he seemed most worthy that this office should be expended upon him, and [worthy] of the priesthood. [Pontianus] left the see to [his successor]. And after Philetus, at Antioch, Zebennus took up the church.

At which time Origen was requested by the churches which are in Achaia to come all the way thither for the convicting of the heretics who had there gained strength too freely. And when he was journeying thither and necessarily making his way through Palestine, he was ordained presbyter at Caesarea by the bishops of that province. But as to the reasons for which an inhuman envy was kindled against him over this, and again for his defence what things those did who presided over the churches, and how many other matters — these each require their own history. Yet even we can more easily [make them known], and he who desires to know can [learn them]. Meanwhile, by constant and continuous labour in the exposition of the divine volumes, [he wrought much], as is indicated from his own commentaries.

Indeed, in expounding the first Psalm, he himself designates also what is the canon of the Old Testament, in this manner. 'It is not to be unknown,' he says, 'that there are twenty-two books in the canon, according to the number of the letters which are held among them.' And the twenty-two books are these: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua the son of Nun, [the book] of Judges, [the books] of Kingdoms — the first and [second], and the third and the fourth are one among them, which they call the Kingdom of David; and Chronicles, first and second, are held in one, which they call the Words of the Days; Ezra, first and second, is one; likewise the book of Psalms; the Proverbs of Solomon, and another Ecclesiastes, and a third of his [the Song of Songs]. [With these] they conclude the canon of the divine volumes.

But the books of the Maccabees [are outside these]. Concerning the canon of the New Testament, in the first book of his commentaries on the Gospel according to Matthew, he writes in this manner: 'Only [these four] ought to be received without any contradiction in all the churches of God which are under heaven. For thus the fathers have handed down: that first of all the Gospel was written by Matthew, who had once been a publican, in Hebrew letters, and delivered to those who believed from the circumcision; [the second, that of Mark, according to what] Peter had handed down, whom he mentions in his own epistle, saying: 'My son Mark salutes you'; that the third is that according to Luke, which the apostle Paul commends as written for those who had believed from among the Gentiles; but above all is the Gospel of John.'

'... [not of the letter], but of the spirit — I mean Paul, who filled up the Gospel from Jerusalem round about even to Illyricum; nor did he write to all the churches which he had taught, but only fourteen epistles, and in these he writes several very brief ones. And although some have doubted concerning that which was written to the Hebrews, on the ground that there does not seem to be preserved in it that manner of his which he pronounces concerning himself, when he says that he is unskilled in speech — yet I say, as it has been handed down to me by my elders, that it is most manifestly [his].'

'But if you should inquire of me by whom his discourse was composed — as for certainty, indeed, God will have seen; yet the opinion which has come down even to us [is that it was Clement, the] disciple and bishop of the city of Rome, [who put it] into Greek speech, though [the thoughts are] the apostle's. But Peter, upon whom the church of Christ is founded, writes only two epistles, of which the second is doubted by some.'

John too, who reclined upon the Lord's breast, afterward wrote the Gospel and the Apocalypse, in which nevertheless he was ordered to keep certain things silent, and epistles, among which two are very brief, and concerning these there is doubt among some. Meanwhile it was the tenth year of the aforesaid emperor of the Romans, in which Origen, a fugitive from Alexandria, had come to Caesarea, having entrusted the school of catechesis to Heraclas, one of his most approved disciples, of whom I spoke above, after administering the episcopate of that church for forty-three years. About the same time there was among the bishops the illustrious Firmilian, of the Cappadocian people, of the city of Caesarea.

So great was his veneration toward Origen that not only did Firmilian linger with him, but he himself, leaving his own church, would hasten to him and employ a certain devout alternation: at one time summoning Origen to instruct his church, at another going himself for the sake of his own progress and sitting beside him as he taught day and night. Theoctistus too, who governed the church at Caesarea, devoted almost the whole time of his life to hearing him, and they alone gave themselves to the divine Scriptures and to ecclesiastical doctrine as the highest mastery. When he had died, Maximinus Caesar succeeded.

He, carried by hatred against the house of his predecessor Alexander, stirred up persecutions against the churches, yet in such a way that he punished only those who presided over the peoples and over doctrine. Then Origen wrote a book on martyrdom addressed to Ambrose. When it had reached very many, being strengthened as by certain most powerful sinews, they of their own accord offered themselves to the confession of the name of Christ, and from this a very great number of confessors arose during the three years of persecution under Maximinus. After him Gordian took up the empire.

After Pontianus had held the episcopate of the city of Rome for six years, Antherus succeeds him, who held it but one month. When Antherus had died, it happened concerning Fabian that, as he was returning from the country together with friends and each, as usually happens in such matters, cried out one name after another, yet the crowd's opinion obtained nothing certain, he too stood among the rest desiring to know what the outcome would be; and suddenly, by God's providence, a dove fallen from heaven, bearing the figure of that dove which had descended in the image of the Holy Spirit upon Jesus at the Jordan, stood above the head of Fabian.

At which spectacle the faces and eyes of all were turned to him, and all, moved as by one spirit, decreed by God's judgment that this man was worthy of the episcopate, and immediately set him upon the chair. They hand down that this was done in the manner reported of Zephyrinus. Then also at Antioch there were events; but at Alexandria, when Heraclas had succeeded Demetrius, he handed over to Dionysius the school of catechesis which he held, taken up from Origen. And Origen himself, while he stayed at Caesarea, had innumerable men come together to him, not only men of that region but also from far-off provinces, who left their homeland and parents and followed him as he taught the way of God.

Among these was also the most famous man Theodore himself, apostolic in every way in faith, virtues, and knowledge, and his brother Athenodorus. Origen, drawing them back as young men from the school of a rhetorician, persuaded them to change the studies of secular letters into divine philosophy; and they attained to the word of knowledge with him over the space of five years, and shone forth so greatly by the merit of their life and cultivation of morals that from his schools, at an age still immature, they were promoted to the episcopates of Pontus. It was he who objected that the history of Susanna, which is written in Daniel, seemed fictitious and foreign to prophetic Scripture.

To him Origen, replying most magnificently, asserts that one must by no means listen to the fabrications and frauds of the Jews, but that this alone is to be held for true in the divine Scriptures which the Seventy translators rendered, since that was confirmed by apostolic authority. There have come to us also other little works of the aforesaid writer Africanus, and especially his Chronicle, very diligently composed. He was moved by the most celebrated reputation of Heraclas, whom fame declared to be most thoroughly instructed both in divine and in philosophical studies and in all Greek learning, and who, as we mentioned above, had there undertaken the office of the episcopate.

The same Africanus also writes to a certain Aristides concerning the differing accounts reported about the generation of Christ, where he shows the most evident harmony of both, as we did already in the first book of this work. About the same time Origen records that he completed thirty books of commentaries on part of Scripture as he set out for Athens, where he also wrote the first five books on the Song of Songs; the other five he completed on returning to Caesarea. But there is now no need to enumerate his little works, which are almost innumerable, since we did so in that work; and the volumes of the ancient writers, and especially of Origen, were consecrated to the library of Caesarea, which he himself assembled with singular and noble zeal.

Whoever wishes to know what has come down to us, let him take a list from there. Now, however, to return to the order of our history: Beryllus began to teach certain things foreign to the truth, asserting that our Lord and Savior neither existed before the nativity of the flesh nor possessed a substance proper to his own deity, but this alone, that the paternal deity dwelt in him. On account of which very many bishops gathered and held disputations with him, and Origen came into conflict with the man; and he, at first disputing gently with him, searches out more carefully what he thought.