Church History Books 1–9 (trans.) 6 part 2/4

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.'