§ 133. THE OEIGENISTIC CONTKOVEKST IN PALESTINE. 701
branded liim as the father of Arlanism and many other errors.' Not content with this, he also endeavored by journeying and oral discourse to destroy everywhere the influence of the long departed teacher of Alexandria, and considered himself as doing God and the church the greatest service thereby.
With this object the aged bishop journeyed in 394 to Palestine, where Origen was still held in the highest consideration, especially with John, bishop of Jerusalem, and with the learned monks Rufinus and Jerome, the former of whom was at that time in Jerusalem and the latter in Bethlehem. He delivered a blustering sermon in Jerusalem, excited laughter, and vehemently demanded the condemnation of Origen, John and Rufinus resisted ; but Jerome, who had previously considered Origen the greatest church teacher after the apostles, and had learned nmch from his exegetical writings, without adopting his doctrinal errors, yielded to a solicitude for the fame of his own orthodoxy, passed over to the opposition, broke off church fellowship with John, and involved himself in a most violent literary contest with his former friend Rufinus ; which belongs to the chronique scandaleuse of theology. The schism was terminated indeed by the mediation of the pati-iarch Theophilus in 397, but the dispute broke out afresh. Jerome condemned in Origen particularly his doctrine of pre-existence, of the final conversion of the devils, and of demons, and his spiritualistic sublimation of the resurrection of the body ; while Rufinus, having returned to the West (398), translated several works of Origen into Latin, and accommodated them to orthodox taste. Both were in fact equally zealous to defend themselves against the charge of Origenism, and to fasten it upon each other, and this not by a critical analysis and calm investigation of the teachings of Origen, but by personal denunciations and miserable invectives."
Rufinus was cited before pope Anastasius (398-402), who condemned Origen in a Roman synod ; but he sent a satisfactory
' Hasr. 64. Compare also his Epistle to bishop John of Jerusalem, written 394 and translated by Jerome into Latin (Ep. 61, ed. Vallarsi), where he enumerates eight heresies of Origen relating to the trinity, the doctrine of man, of angels, of th« vorld, and the last things.
• Comp. the description of their conduct by Zocljler. Hieronymus, p. 396 £
702 TniRD PERIOD. A.D. 311-590.
defense, find found an asylum in Aquileia. He enjoyed tlic esteem of such men as Paulinus of Nola and Augustine, and died iu Sicily (410).
§ 134. The Origenistic Controversy in Egypt and Consianti/nqple. Theophilus and Chrysodom.. a. d. 399-407.
Meanwhile a second act of this controversy was opened in Egypt, in which the unprincipled, ambitious, and intriguini; bishop Theophilus of Alexandria plays the leading part. This bishop was at first an admirer of Origen, and despised the anthropomorphite monks, but afterwards, through a personal quarrel with Isidore and the " four tall brethren," who refused to deliver the church funds into his hands, he became an opponent of Origen, attacked his errors in several documents (399-403),' and pronounced an anathema on his memory, in which he was supported by Epiphanius, Jerome, and the Roman bishop Anastasius. At the same time he indulged in the most violent measures against the Origenistic monks, and banished them from Egypt. Most of these monks fled to Palestine ; but some fifty, among whom were the four tall brethren, went to Constantinople, and found there a cordia) welcome with the bishop John Chrysostom in 401.
In this way that noble man became involved in the dispute. As an adherent of the Antiochian school, and as a practical theologian, he had no sympathy with the philosophical speculation of Origen, but he knew how to appreciate his merits in the exposition of the Scriptures, and was impelled by Christian love and justice to intercede with Theophilus in behalf of the persecuted monks, though he did not admit them to the holy communion till they proved their innocence.
Theophilus now set every instrument in motion to overthrow the long envied Chrysostom, and employed even Epiphaniu«5
* In his Epistola Synodica ad episeopos Pula?stinos ct ad Cyprios, 400, and in three successive Epistolaj Paschales, from 401-403, all translated by Jerome and forming Epp. 92, 96, 98, and 100 of his Epistles, according to the order of VallarsL They enter mc-e deeply into the topics of the conlroveiby than Jerome's own writings against Origen. Jerome (Ep. 99 ad Theopliilum) pays him the compliment: " Rdctoricge eloquentiie jungis philosophos, et Dcmosthenem atque Platonem nobis ooDBOcias."