RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Origen
in
^telligible to sensual man; but the indwelling of the Logos remained a mystery, which could be represented only by the analogy of his indwelling in the saints; nor could Origen fully explain it. He speaks of a " remarkable body," and in his
4. Chris- opinion that the mortal body of Jesus tology. was transformed by God into an
ethereal and divine body, Origen approximated the Docetism (q.v.) that he otherwise abhorred. His concept of the soul of Jesus is likewise uncertain and wavering. He proposes the question whether it was not originally perfect with God but, emanating from him, at his command assumed a material body. As he conceived matter as merely the universal limit of created spirits, so would it be impossible to state in what form the two were combined. He dismissed the solution by referring it to the mystery of the divine governance of the universe. More logically did he declare the material nature of the world to be merely an episode in the spiritual process of development, whose end should be the annihilation of all matter and return to God, who should again be all in all. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body he upholds by the explanation that the Logos maintains the unity of man's existence by ever changing his body into new forms, thus preserving the unity and identity of personality in harmony with the tenet of an endless cosmic process. Origen's concept of the Logos allowed him to make no definite statement on the redemptive work of Jesus. Since sin was ultimately only negative as a lack of pure knowledge, the activity of Jesus was essentially example and instruction, and his human life was only incidental as contrasted with the immanent cosmic activity of the Logos. Origen regarded the death of Jesus as a sacrifice, paralleling it with other cases of selfsacrifice for the general good. On this, Origen's accord with the teachings of the Church was merely superficial.
His idealizing tendency to consider the spiritual
alone as real, fundamental to his entire system, led
him to combat the rude Chiliasm (see
5. Escha- Millennium, Millenarianism) of a tology. sensual beyond; yet he constrained
himself from breaking entirely with the distinct celestial hopes and representations of Paradise prevalent in the Church. He represents a progressive purification of souls, until, cleansed of all clouds of evil, they should know the truth and God as the Son knew him, see God face to face, and attain a full possession of the Holy Spirit arid union with God. The means of attainment of this end were described by Origen in different ways, the most important of which was his Platonic concept of a purifying fire which should cleanse the world of evil and thus lead to cosmic renovation. By a further spiritualization Origen could call God himself this consuming fire. In proportion as the souls were freed from sin and ignorance, the material world was to pass away, until, after endless eons, at the final end, God should be all in all, and the worlds and spirits should return to a knowledge of God.
IV, Character: In Origen the Christian Church had its first theologian in the highest sense of the VIII.— 18
term, nor has the Greek Church ever had his superior. Attaining the pinnacle of human speculation, his teaching was not merely theoretical, like that of his antagonists, the Gnostics, but was also imbued with an intense ethical power. To the multitude to whom his instruction was beyond grasp, he left mediating images and symbols, as well as the final goal of attainment. In Origen Christianity blended with the paganism in which lived the desire for truth and the longing after God. When he died, however, he left no pupil who could succeed him, nor was the church of his period able to become his heir, and thus, his knowledge was buried. Three centuries later his very name was stricken from the books of the Church; yet in the monasteries of the Greeks his influence still lived on, and the spiritual father of Greek monasticism was that same Origen at whose name the monks had shuddered. See Origenistic Controversies.
(Erwin Preuschen.)
Bibliography : For the earlier literature on Origen consult ANF, Bibliography, pp. 50—55; U. Chevalier, Repertoire des sources historiques du moyen dge, pp. 1683 sqq., 2756 sqq., Paris, 1904; A. Ehrhard, Die altchristliche Litteratur, in TSK, 1880-84, and the supplement for 1885-1900. The one complete edition of the Opera is that by C. and V. de la Rue, 4 vols., Paris, 1733-59 (but cf. the ed. of Lommatzsch, 25 vols., Berlin, 1831-48), reproduced in MPG, xi.-xvii.; a new edition, which will supersede the earlier editions, is in process under the auspices of the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences, vols, i.-iv., Leipsic, 1899- 1903. The exegetical writings, ed. P. D. Huet, with learned dissertations, Origeniana, appeared, 2 vols., Rouen, 1668, Paris, 1679, Cologne, 1685. The commentary on John, ed. A. E. Brooke, appeared 2 vols., Cambridge, 1891; and individual works or excerpts in TV, ii. 4, vi. 1, xii. 3, xvi. 3. Several of his works (" On First Principles," " To Africanus," " To Gregory," and " Against Celsus ") are in Eng. transl., with an introduction, in ANF, iv. 221 sqq. For the English reader of first importance is Westcott's fine article in DCB, iv. 96-142. Consult further: G. Thomasius, Origen, Nuremberg, 1837; E. R. Rudepenning, Origenes, Bonn, 1843-46; C. Ramers, Origens Lehre von der Auferstehung des Fleisches, Treves, 1851; A. Fournier, Exposition critique des idees d'Origene sur la redemption, Strasburg, 1861 ; G. Contestin, Origene exSgete, Arras, 1867; F. Bohringer, Die Kirche Christi und ihre Zeugen, Klemens und Origenes, Zurich, 1869; C. E. Freppel, Origene, Paris, 1875; A. H. Charteris, Canonicity, Edinburgh, 1880; J. Denis, La Philosophie d'Origene, Paris, 1884; C. Bigg, Christian Platonists of Alexandria, pp 115-268, Oxford, 1886; C. Boyer, La Redemption dans Origene, Montauban, 1886; F. W. Farrar, History of Interpretation, pp. 187-203, New York, 1886; idem, Lives of the Fathers, i. 291-323, ib. 1889; J. Patrick, The Apology of Origen in Reply to Celsus, London, 1892; F. Kattenbusch, Das apostolische Symbol, Leipsic, 1894; C. Klein, Die Freiheitslehre des Origenes, Strasburg,' 1894; Klostermann, in TV, xvi. 3 (1897); G. Capitaine, De Origenis ethica, Munster, 1898; W. Fairweather, Origen and Greek Patristic Theology, Edinburgh, 1901; A. Zollig, Die Inspirationslehre des Origenes, Freiburg, 1902; G. Anrich, Clemens und Origines als Begrunder der Lehre vom Fegfeuer, Tubingen, 1902; O. Bardenhewer, Geschichte der altkirchlichen Litteratur, 11. 68-158 Freiburg, 1903; A. Zollig, Die Inspirationslehre des Origenes, Freiburg, 1903; E. C. Dargan, Hist, of Preaching, pp. 49 sqq., New York, 1905; F. Prat, Ongine, le theologien et I'exigete, Paris, 1907; Vigouroux, Dictionnaire, fasc. xxix., cols. 1870-1889 (a worthy discussion)- Kruger, History, 173 sqq.; Harnack, Dogma (consult index); idem, Litteratur, i. 332-405 et passim; Schaff, Christian Church, iii. 785 sqq., et passim; and m general the works on the church history of the period; Ceillier, Auteurs sacres, ii. 130-440; KL, ix. 1053-73; and in general works on the history of doctrine, For some new fragments of the Hexapla cf. Cairo Gemzah Pahmpsests, London, 1901,
Origrenistic Controversies Orleans