Book 6
Late Antiquity Eusebius of Caesarea GreekThe Sixth Book of the Ecclesiastical History contains the following: I. On the persecution under Severus. II. On the discipline of Origen from boyhood. III. How, while still quite young, he preached the word of Christ. IV. How many, instructed by him, were advanced to martyrdom. V. On Potamiaena. VI. On Clement of Alexandria. VII. On Judas the writer. VIII. On the deed daringly done by Origen. IX. On the wonders connected with Narcissus. X. On the bishops at Jerusalem. XI. On Alexander. XII. On Serapion and the discourses ascribed to him. XIII. On the writings of Clement. XIV. How many Scriptures he mentioned. XV. On Heraclas. XVI. How Origen laboured over the divine Scriptures. XVII. On Symmachus the translator. XVIII. On Ambrose. XIX. What is recorded concerning Origen. XX. What discourses of the men of that time are extant. XXI. What bishops were known under these emperors. XXII. What works of Hippolytus have come down to us. XXIII. On the zeal of Origen, and how he was deemed worthy of the office of presbyter in the Church. XXIV. What he expounded at Alexandria. XXV. How he mentioned the canonical Scriptures. XXVI. How the bishops regarded him. XXVII. How Heraclas succeeded to the bishopric of Alexandria. XXVIII. On the persecution under Maximinus. XXIX. On Fabian, how he was marvellously designated bishop of the Romans by God. XXX. Who were the pupils of Origen. XXXI. On Africanus. XXXII. What Origen expounded at Caesarea in Palestine. XXXIII. On the error of Beryllus. XXXIV. The events under Philip. XXXV. How Dionysius succeeded Heraclas in the bishopric. XXXVI. What other labours were undertaken by Origen. XXXVII. On the dissension of the Arabians. XXXVIII. On the heresy of the Helkesaites. XXXIX. On the events under Decius. XL. On the things that befell Dionysius. XLI. On those who suffered martyrdom at Alexandria itself. XLII. On the other things which Dionysius relates. XLIII. On Novatus, what manner of man he was, and on the heresy named after him. XLIV. The account of Dionysius concerning Serapion. XLV. The letter of Dionysius to Novatus. XLVI. On the other letters of Dionysius.
When Severus too was stirring up persecution against the churches, splendid martyrdoms of the champions of true religion were accomplished in every place, but most abundantly at Alexandria. Thither, as to a vast arena of the athletes of God, were sent forward those from Egypt and the whole of the Thebaid, and through their most steadfast endurance of manifold tortures and forms of death they won the crowns laid up with God. Among them was Leonides, called the father of Origen, who was beheaded and left behind his son, then quite young. It will not be out of place to relate briefly the disposition the boy displayed from that time toward the divine word, since the account commonly told of him is widely noised abroad among the multitude.
Much indeed might one say in attempting to hand down in writing, at leisure, the life of the man, and the composition concerning him would require a treatise of its own. Nevertheless we for the present, abridging most of it as briefly as we can, shall pass over a few particulars about him, drawing the matters here set forth from certain letters and from the account of those of his acquaintances whose lives have been preserved down to our own day.
The things concerning Origen even, so to speak, from his very swaddling-clothes seem to me worthy of record. It was the tenth year of the reign of Severus; Laetus was governor of Alexandria and the rest of Egypt, and Demetrius had but lately, after Julian, undertaken the oversight of the communities there.
When, therefore, the fire of persecution was kindled to a great height and countless numbers were being adorned with the crowns of martyrdom, so great a longing for martyrdom possessed the soul of Origen, while still quite a boy, that he made for the perils, eager to leap forward and rush into the contest.
Indeed, the term of his departure from life was already brought not far off, had not the divine and heavenly Providence, for the benefit of the many, opposed his eagerness through his mother.
She at first entreated him with words, begging him to spare her motherly feeling toward him; but when she saw that his ardour was the more intense, once he had learned that his father was taken and held in prison and had become wholly given over to the impulse toward martyrdom, she hid all his clothing and so laid upon him the necessity of remaining at home.
And he, since nothing else was left him to do, his eagerness being kindled beyond his years and not allowing him to be at rest, sent his father a most encouraging letter on martyrdom, in which he exhorted him in these very words: 'Take heed not to change your mind on our account.' Let this stand as a recorded proof of Origen's boyish shrewdness and of his most genuine disposition toward the fear of God.
For already he had laid down no small foundations in the words of the faith, having been trained in the divine Scriptures from earliest childhood. Indeed, he had laboured over these not moderately, his father, besides the ordinary course of education, having made these too the object of no incidental care.
Above all things, before the study of the Greek learning, he led him to be exercised in the sacred studies, exacting from him daily memorizations and recitations.
Nor were these things irksome to the boy, but he laboured at them with the utmost eagerness, so that the simple and ready readings of the sacred words did not satisfy him; he sought something further, and even from that age busied himself with deeper speculations, so that he gave trouble to his father by inquiring what could be the meaning of the inspired Scripture.
His father, to his face, would seemingly rebuke him, exhorting him to seek nothing beyond his years nor beyond the obvious sense; but privately within himself he rejoiced greatly and gave the greatest thanks to God, the author of all good things, that He had deemed him worthy to become the father of such a child.
They say that often, standing over the boy as he slept, he would bare his breast, and, as though a divine Spirit were enshrined within it, would kiss it reverently and count himself blessed in his goodly offspring. These and other things akin to them they record of Origen while he was a boy.
When his father had been perfected by martyrdom, he was left bereft, together with his mother and six younger brothers, being not yet a full seventeen years old.
His father's property having been confiscated to the imperial treasury, he was reduced with his kindred to want of the necessaries of life. Yet he was deemed worthy of God's care, and met with welcome and rest at the house of a woman very wealthy and otherwise most distinguished, who was, however, entertaining a man notorious among the heretics then at Alexandria. This man was an Antiochene by birth; the woman aforesaid kept him with her as an adopted son and treated him with the highest regard.
But Origen, though compelled to consort with him, gave clear proofs of his orthodoxy in the faith from that time. For although a great multitude—not only of heretics but also of our own people—gathered about Paul (for that was the man's name) on account of his seeming proficiency in argument, Origen was never induced to join with him in prayer, keeping from childhood the rule of the Church, and abhorring, as he himself somewhere says in these very words, the teachings of the heresies.
Having been advanced by his father in the Greek learning, and after his father's death applying himself the more ardently to the discipline of letters, he had so prepared himself in grammatical studies that, not long after his father's perfecting, by devoting himself to these, he was abundantly supplied with the necessaries, as far as his age allowed.
While he was thus engaged in teaching, as he himself records in writing, and there was no one at Alexandria devoted to catechizing—all having been driven away by the threat of persecution—some of the heathen came to him to hear the word of God.
The first of these, he notes, was Plutarch, who, after living well, was adorned with a divine martyrdom; the second, Heraclas, Plutarch's brother, who himself also, having furnished with him abundant proof of a philosophic life and discipline, was deemed worthy of the bishopric of Alexandria after Demetrius.
He was in his eighteenth year when he took charge of the catechetical school; and he advanced in it during the persecutions under Aquila the governor of Alexandria, when especially he won a most renowned name among all who set out from the faith, by the welcome and ready zeal which he showed toward all the holy martyrs, both unknown and known.
For not only was he with the holy martyrs while in bonds, and while under examination up to the final sentence, but also after this, when they were led away to death, employing great boldness and coming to close grips with the dangers; so that, as he advanced courageously and greeted the martyrs with much boldness by a kiss, the heathen mob standing round him, in their fury, more than once all but stoned him to death, had he not, finding the divine right hand again and again his helper, marvellously escaped.
And the same divine and heavenly grace guarded him at other times—again and again, more times than one can tell—when on account of his exceeding eagerness and boldness for the word of Christ he was plotted against. So great was the war of the unbelievers against him that, forming bands, they set soldiers about the house in which he dwelt, on account of the multitude of those being instructed by him in the sacred faith.
Thus daily was the persecution against him kindled, so that the whole city could no longer hold him; he changed from house to house, driven from every quarter, on account of the multitude of those who through him came to the divine teaching. For his very works in practice held the achievements of a most genuine philosophy, exceedingly admirable.
For 'as was his word, such,' they say, 'was his manner of life; and as his manner of life, such was his word,' as he displayed; on which account especially, the divine power working with him, he led countless numbers to his own zeal.
When he saw that yet more pupils were coming to him, the work of catechizing having been committed to him alone by Demetrius, who presided over the church, he judged the teaching of grammatical studies discordant with the discipline of the divine learning, and without delay he broke off the teaching of grammar as unprofitable and contrary to the sacred studies.
Then, by a fitting reasoning, that he might not be in need of help from others, he handed over whatever volumes of ancient literature he formerly possessed, beautifully written and carefully prepared, and was content with four obols a day brought to him by the one who had purchased them. For very many years he continued to practise philosophy in this manner, stripping from himself all the materials of youthful desires; through every day he filled up no small toils of discipline, and during the greater part of the night devoted himself to the study of the divine Scriptures, persevering as far as possible in a most philosophic life—now in exercises of fasting, now in measured spans of sleep, which he was zealous to take not at all upon a couch but upon the bare ground.
Above all he thought it needful to guard the evangelical sayings of the Saviour, both those which counsel against using two coats or sandals, and those against being worn down by anxieties for the time to come.
But, employing a zeal beyond his years and persevering in cold and nakedness, and pressing on to the utmost height of poverty, he greatly astonished those about him, grieving countless numbers who prayed to share with him their possessions, on account of the labours they saw him bestowing upon the divine teaching—yet he himself by no means relaxed his austerities.
He is said for a good many years to have walked the ground using no sandal whatever, and likewise for very many years to have abstained from the use of wine and of all things beyond his necessary food, so that he fell into danger of overthrowing and ruining his constitution.
Affording such examples of a philosophic life to those who beheld him, he naturally roused more of his pupils to a like zeal, so that even of the unbelieving heathen, and those trained in learning and philosophy, not a few were brought under his teaching. These too, genuinely receiving through him in the depth of their souls faith in the divine word, became distinguished at that very season of persecution, so that some of them were taken and perfected by martyrdom.
The first of these, then, was Plutarch, mentioned a little before. As he was being led to death, the man of whom our account speaks, being present with him to the very end of his life, was again all but slain by his fellow-citizens, as having plainly been the cause of his death; but the counsel of God preserved him then also.
After Plutarch, the second of Origen's pupils to be shown a martyr was Serenus, who gave proof through fire of the faith he had received.
Of the same school the third to be made a martyr was Heraclides, and after him the fourth, Heron—the former still a catechumen, the latter newly baptized—both beheaded. Besides these, of the same school a fifth champion of true religion is proclaimed, another Serenus, who, after the utmost endurance of tortures, is reported to have been punished by beheading. And of the women, Herais, while still a catechumen, received baptism by fire, as he himself somewhere says, and departed this life.
Seventh among these let Basilides be reckoned, who led away the renowned Potamiaena, concerning whom much is still sung even now among the people of the country—how she contended in countless struggles with her lovers for the purity and virginity of her body, in which she excelled (for indeed, besides her soul, the bloom of her body also flowered in its prime), and how, after enduring countless trials, at last, after dreadful tortures fearful to tell, she was perfected by fire together with her mother Marcella.
They say that the judge—Aquila was his name—after inflicting cruel torments upon her over her whole body, finally threatened to deliver her to gladiators for the outraging of her body; and she, considering with herself a little while and being asked what her decision was, gave such an answer as seemed to them to utter something impious by their reckoning.
No sooner had she received the sentence of condemnation than Basilides, one of those enrolled in the army, took her and led her away to death. As the crowd tried to molest her and to insult her with licentious words, he kept them off, driving away those who insulted her and showing her the utmost pity and humanity. She, accepting the man's sympathy toward her, bade him be of good courage, for she would ask him of her own Lord when she had departed, and would not long after requite him for what he had done toward her.
Having said these things she nobly endured her departure, boiling pitch being poured over the various parts of her body, from the soles of her feet up to the crown of her head, slowly and little by little.
Such was the contest waged by that maiden worthy of song. Not long after, Basilides, being asked for some reason by his fellow-soldiers to take an oath, affirmed that it was utterly unlawful for him to swear; for he was a Christian, and openly confessed it. At first they thought he was jesting; but when he persisted firmly, he was led to the judge, before whom he confessed his stand, and was committed to bonds.
When the brethren in God came to him and inquired the cause of this sudden and strange impulse, he is said to have replied that Potamiaena, three days after her martyrdom, had stood by him at night, placed a crown about his head, and said that she had besought the Lord on his behalf and obtained her request, and that not long after she would take him to herself. Thereupon the brethren imparted to him the seal in the Lord, and on the next day, having distinguished himself by martyrdom for the Lord, he was beheaded.
And many others of those at Alexandria are recorded to have come over all at once to the word of Christ in the days mentioned, since Potamiaena appeared to them in their sleep and called them. But let this suffice.
Clement, having succeeded Pantaenus, had charge of the catechizing at Alexandria up to that time, so that Origen too became one of his pupils. Clement, indeed, in composing his treatise of the Stromateis, in the first book set forth a chronological writing, and bounds the times at the death of Commodus; so that it is clear that his studies were laboured under Severus, whose times the present account records.
At this time also another writer, Judas, discoursing in writing on the seventy weeks in Daniel, brings his chronography down to the tenth year of the reign of Severus. He also supposed that the much-talked-of coming of the Antichrist was even then drawing near—so violently had the agitation of the persecution then against us disturbed the minds of the many.
At this time, while Origen was accomplishing the work of catechizing at Alexandria, he did a thing that betokened a mind immature and youthful, yet containing the greatest proof at once of faith and of self-control.
For taking the words 'There are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven' in too simple and youthful a sense, and thinking at once to fulfil the Saviour's word, and also—being young in age and conversing on divine things not only with men but with women as well—to shut off from the unbelievers all suspicion of shameful slander, he was moved to carry out the Saviour's word in deed, taking care to escape the notice of most of those about him.
But it was not possible for him, though he wished it, to conceal so great a deed. When Demetrius learned of it afterward, as president of the community there, he greatly marvelled at his rashness; yet, approving the eagerness and the genuineness of his faith, he exhorted him to be of good courage, and urged him now the more to cleave to the work of catechizing.
Such, then, was he at that time. But not long after, the same Demetrius, seeing him prospering and great and illustrious and renowned among all, fell into something human, and undertook to write to the bishops throughout the world as though the deed were most monstrous—at the time when the most approved and distinguished bishops in Palestine, those of Caesarea and Jerusalem, judging Origen worthy of the office of presbyter and of the highest honour, laid hands on him into the presbyterate.
Then, accordingly, when he had advanced to great glory, and acquired a name among all men everywhere and no small renown for virtue and wisdom, Demetrius, having no other ground of accusation, made a grievous slander of the deed long ago done by him as a boy, daring to include in his accusations those who had advanced him to the presbyterate.
These things, then, happened a little later. But at that time Origen at Alexandria was accomplishing, without reserve, the work of divine teaching toward all who came to him, night and day, devoting his whole leisure unwearyingly to the divine studies and to those who frequented him. Severus, having held power eighteen years, was succeeded by his son Antoninus. Among those who had played the man in the persecution and after their contests in confession had been preserved by the providence of God was one Alexander, whom we have just shown to be bishop of the church in Jerusalem; having distinguished himself in confessions for Christ, he was deemed worthy of the bishopric there, while Narcissus, who was his predecessor, was still living.
Many other wonderful things the citizens of that community record concerning Narcissus, as from a tradition of the brethren who succeeded one another; among which they relate that such a marvel as the following was wrought through him.
Once, during the great vigil of the Pascha, the oil failed the deacons; whereupon, as deep despondency seized the whole multitude, Narcissus ordered those who were preparing the lights to draw water and bring it to him.
This being done as soon as said, he prayed over the water and bade them pour it upon the lamps with genuine faith in the Lord; and when they had done this also, beyond all reason, by a marvellous and divine power, its nature was changed from the quality of water into that of oil; and among very many of the brethren there a small portion of it was preserved from that time even to our own day, as a token of the wonder then wrought.
Many other things worthy of remembrance they tell concerning the life of this man, among which is this. Certain worthless little men, unable to bear the vigour and firmness of his life, and fearing, from the consciousness of the countless evils they were guilty of, that they might be brought to trial, contrived a plot against him beforehand and stitched together a dreadful slander against him.
Then, to assure their hearers, they confirmed the accusations with oaths: the one swore that he might perish by fire, the second that his body might be consumed by a foul disease, the third that he might be blinded in his eyes. But not even so, though they swore, did any of the faithful give heed to them, on account of the temperance and altogether virtuous conduct of Narcissus that shone forth to all.
He himself, by no means enduring the wickedness of what was said, and besides having long since embraced the philosophic life, fled from the whole multitude of the church and lived for very many years in deserts and obscure fields. But the great eye of justice did not rest at the things that had been done,
and very swiftly pursued the impious men with the very curses by which they had bound themselves in perjury against themselves. The first, from no cause at all, simply when a small spark fell upon the house in which he dwelt, was burnt up at night with his whole household, the whole house being set ablaze. The second was suddenly filled, over his whole body from the soles of his feet to his head, with the very disease he had imprecated upon himself.
The third, seeing the issues of the former two and dreading the inescapable justice of the all-seeing God, confessed to all the things they had contrived in common against themselves, and was so worn down with repentance and ceased not from such weeping and tears, until he was destroyed in both his eyes. Such, then, were the punishments these men suffered for their lying.
Narcissus having withdrawn, and it being in no way known where he might be, it seemed good to those who presided over the neighbouring churches to proceed to the ordination of another bishop. Dius was his name; and after he had presided no long time, Germanion succeeded him, and him Gordius; in whose time Narcissus, appearing as it were from a resurrection from somewhere, was again besought by the brethren to take the presidency, all admiring him yet more greatly, both on account of his withdrawal and his philosophy, and above all on account of the vengeance by which God had deemed him worthy.
And since he was no longer able to perform the ministry through his exceeding old age, the dispensation of God called the aforesaid Alexander, who was bishop of another community, to the ministry along with Narcissus, by a revelation that appeared to him at night in a vision.
Accordingly, as by some divine intimation, when he had made his journey from the land of the Cappadocians, where he had first been deemed worthy of the bishopric, to Jerusalem, for the sake of prayer and of inquiry into the holy places, those there received him most kindly and would no longer permit him to return home, by another revelation that appeared to them at night and gave a most clear utterance to the most earnest among them. For it disclosed that, going forth outside the gates, they should receive the bishop foreordained for them by God; and having done this, by the common counsel of the bishops who governed the surrounding churches, they constrained him perforce to remain.
Alexander himself, indeed, mentions in his own letters to the Antinoites, still preserved among us, his joint presidency with Narcissus, writing thus in these very words at the close of the letter: 'Narcissus salutes you, who held the office of the bishopric here before me, and who is now associated with me by prayers, having completed his hundred and sixteenth year, exhorting you, like myself, to be of one mind.'
These things, then, were so. And of the church at Antioch, Serapion having gone to his rest, the bishopric was succeeded by Asclepiades, himself also distinguished in confessions during the persecution. Alexander too mentions his appointment, writing to the Antiochenes thus:
'Alexander, a servant and prisoner of Jesus Christ, to the blessed church of the Antiochenes, greeting in the Lord. Light and easy has the Lord made my bonds, learning during the time of imprisonment that, by the divine providence, Asclepiades, most fit by the worthiness of his faith, has been entrusted with the bishopric of your holy church of the Antiochenes.'
He indicates that he sent this letter by Clement, writing thus toward the end: 'These letters, my lords and brethren, I have sent you by Clement the blessed presbyter, a man virtuous and approved, whom you also know and will recognize the better; who, being present here too by the providence and oversight of the Master, has strengthened and increased the church of the Lord.'
Of Serapion's literary labour, it is likely that other memorials too are preserved among others; but to us alone have come down the works To Domnus, who in the time of persecution fell away from faith in Christ to the Jewish will-worship; and those To Pontius and Caricus, men of the Church; and other letters to others;
and another discourse composed by him On the so-called Gospel according to Peter, which he wrote in refutation of the things falsely stated in it, on account of certain persons in the community at Rhossus who, on the pretext of the said writing, had turned aside to heterodox teachings. From this it is reasonable to set down a few words, by which he sets forth the opinion he held concerning the book, writing thus:
'For we, brethren, receive both Peter and the other apostles as Christ; but the writings falsely inscribed with their names we, as experienced men, reject, knowing that such things we did not receive. For when I was with you,
I supposed that all held to the right faith; and not having gone through the Gospel put forward by them under the name of Peter, I said that, if this is the only thing that seems to bring petty-mindedness among you, let it be read. But now, having learned, from what was told me, that their mind was lurking in some heresy, I will make haste to come to you again; so, brethren, expect me shortly.
But we, brethren, having grasped of what heresy Marcian was, who even contradicted himself, not understanding what he said—which you will learn from what has been written to you—
for we were able, from others who had practised this very Gospel, that is, from the successors of those who began it, whom we call Docetae (for most of the notions are of their teaching), having borrowed it from them, to go through it and to find that most of it belonged to the right word of the Saviour, but some things were added besides, which we have also appended for you.'
And these are the words of Serapion. As for Clement's Stromateis, all eight, they are preserved among us, which he deemed worthy of such a title as this: 'The Stromateis of Gnostic Memoirs according to the True Philosophy, of Titus Flavius Clement.'
Equal in number to these are his books entitled Hypotyposeis, in which he mentions Pantaenus by name as his teacher, and sets forth his interpretations of the Scriptures and his traditions.
There is also of him a discourse To the Greeks, the Protrepticus; and three books of the work entitled the Paedagogus; and another discourse of his entitled Who is the rich man that is saved; and the treatise On the Pascha; and discussions On fasting and On evil-speaking; and the Exhortation to endurance, or To the newly baptized; and the work entitled the Ecclesiastical Canon, or Against the Judaizers, which he dedicated to Alexander the bishop aforesaid.
Now in the Stromateis he has made a tapestry not only of the divine Scripture but also of the writings of the Greeks, if anything seemed to him profitably said by them too; and he mentions the opinions held by many,
unfolding both Greek and barbarian teachings, and besides correcting the false opinions of the heresiarchs, and he unfolds much history, furnishing us a subject of much-learned instruction. With all these he mingles also the doctrines of the philosophers, whence fittingly he has made the title of the Stromateis ('Patchworks') suited to his subject.
He has used in them also testimonies from the disputed Scriptures: the so-called Wisdom of Solomon, and that of Jesus son of Sirach, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, and those of Barnabas and Clement and Jude;
and he mentions the discourse of Tatian To the Greeks, and Cassian, as having himself also composed a chronography; and besides, Philo and Aristobulus, Josephus and Demetrius and Eupolemus, Jewish writers, as all these had shown in writing that Moses and the Jewish race were more ancient than the early origins among the Greeks.
And the discourses of the man mentioned are full of much other useful learning; in the first of which he discloses concerning himself that he came very near to the succession of the apostles, and he promises in them also to write commentaries on Genesis.
And in his discourse On the Pascha he confesses that he was constrained by his companions to hand down in writing, for those who came after, the traditions he chanced to have heard from the ancient presbyters; and he mentions in it Melito and Irenaeus and certain others, whose accounts also he has set down.
In the Hypotyposeis, to put it briefly, he has made abridged narratives of all the canonical Scripture, not passing over even the disputed books—I mean that of Jude and the rest of the catholic epistles, and that of Barnabas, and the so-called Apocalypse of Peter.
And the Epistle to the Hebrews he says is Paul's, but written to Hebrews in the Hebrew tongue, and that Luke, having carefully translated it, published it for the Greeks; whence the same complexion is found in respect of the rendering of this epistle and of the Acts. He says that the words 'Paul an apostle' were naturally not prefixed;
'for,' he says, 'writing to the Hebrews, who had conceived a prejudice against him and were suspicious of him, very wisely he did not at the outset repel them by setting down his name.'
Then a little below he adds: 'But now, as the blessed presbyter used to say, since the Lord, being the apostle of the Almighty, was sent to the Hebrews, Paul, through modesty, as having been sent to the Gentiles, does not inscribe himself an apostle of the Hebrews, both on account of the honour due to the Lord, and because he wrote to the Hebrews also out of abundance, being a herald and apostle of the Gentiles.'
Again, in the same books, Clement has set down a tradition of the primitive presbyters concerning the order of the Gospels, having this form. He said that those Gospels were written first which contain the genealogies;
but that the Gospel according to Mark had this dispensation. When Peter had publicly preached the word at Rome and set forth the gospel by the Spirit, those present, being many, exhorted Mark, as one who had followed him from afar and remembered the things spoken, to write down what had been said; and having done so, he imparted the gospel to those who asked of him;
and when Peter learned of it, he neither hindered nor exhorted. But John, last of all, perceiving that the bodily things had been set forth in the Gospels, being urged by his acquaintances and divinely moved by the Spirit, composed a spiritual Gospel. So much Clement.
Again, the aforesaid Alexander makes mention of Clement, and also of Pantaenus, in a certain letter to Origen, as men known to him; he writes thus: 'For this also has been the will of God, as you know, that the friendship that has come down to us from our forefathers should remain inviolate—nay, rather more fervent and more firm.'
'For we know as fathers those blessed ones who went before us, with whom we shall be a little hence: Pantaenus, the truly blessed man and lord, and the holy Clement, who was my lord and profited me, and any other such; through whom I came to know you, the man in all things most excellent, my lord and brother.' And these things are so.
Moreover, Adamantius—for this too was a name of Origen—when Zephyrinus in these times was governing the church of the Romans, sojourned at Rome, as he himself somewhere writes, saying: 'Having prayed to see the most ancient church of the Romans.' There, after staying no long time, he returned to Alexandria;
and indeed he fulfilled there the customary duties of catechizing with all zeal, Demetrius the bishop there still at that time urging him on and all but entreating him to bestow unwearyingly his benefit upon the brethren.
But when he saw that he was not sufficient for the deeper study of divine things, and for the examination and interpretation of the sacred writings, and besides for the catechizing of those who came—who did not allow him even to take breath, one set after another frequenting his school from morning till evening—he divided the multitudes, and choosing out Heraclas from among his acquaintances, a man earnest in divine things and otherwise most learned and not without a share of philosophy, he made him his partner in the catechizing, entrusting to him the first introduction of those just being grounded, and reserving for himself the instruction of those advanced.
So accurate was the examination of the divine words introduced by Origen that he even learned the Hebrew tongue thoroughly, and made the original Scriptures, in the Hebrew letters themselves, current among the Jews, his own possession; and he traced out the editions of the others, besides the Seventy, who had translated the sacred Scriptures, and discovered certain others, differing from the well-worn translations of Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, which he tracked out from some recesses where they had long lain hidden, and brought to light.
Concerning these, on account of their obscurity, not knowing whose they might be, he noted only this, that he found the one at Nicopolis near Actium,
and the other in another such place. In the Hexapla of the Psalms, after the four well-known editions, he set down not only a fifth, but also a sixth and a seventh translation; and concerning one of these he has again noted that it was found at Jericho in a jar, in the times of Antoninus the son of Severus.
All these he brought together into one, and dividing them clause by clause and setting them over against one another, together with the very notation of the Hebrew, he has left us the copies of the so-called Hexapla; arranging separately the edition of Aquila and Symmachus and Theodotion, together with that of the Seventy, in the Tetrapla.
Of these very translators it should be known that Symmachus was an Ebionite. The heresy of the so-called Ebionites is that of those who say that Christ was born of Joseph and Mary, and suppose Him to be a mere man, and insist that the Law must be kept after a more Jewish fashion, as we have learned from the earlier history. And memoirs of Symmachus are still extant, in which he seems, aiming at the Gospel according to Matthew, to establish the aforesaid heresy. These, with other interpretations of the Scriptures by Symmachus, Origen indicates that he received from a certain Juliana, who, he says, received the books in succession from Symmachus himself.
At this time Ambrose too, who held the opinions of the heresy of Valentinus, having been refuted by the truth championed by Origen, and as if illumined in mind by a light, gave his adherence to the doctrine of the Church's orthodoxy.
And many others of the learned, as the fame of Origen was noised abroad everywhere, came to him to make trial of the man's competence in the sacred words; and countless heretics, and not a few of the most distinguished philosophers, attended him diligently, being instructed by him not only in divine things but also, almost, in the philosophy of those without.
For he introduced as many as he saw of good natural parts to the philosophic studies also, imparting geometry and arithmetic and the other preliminary disciplines, and leading them on to the sects among the philosophers, and expounding their writings, commenting on them and examining each, so that the man was proclaimed a great philosopher even among the Greeks themselves.
Many also of the more uncultivated he urged on to the ordinary course of learning, declaring that they would derive from these no small fitness for the contemplation of and preparation for the divine Scriptures; whence especially he reckoned the discipline in the secular and philosophic studies necessary for himself as well.
Witnesses of his attainment in these matters are the Greeks themselves, the philosophers who flourished in his time, in whose writings we have found much mention of the man—now dedicating their own discourses to him, now submitting their own labours to him as to a teacher, for his judgment.
What need is there to say these things, when even Porphyry, who settled in our time in Sicily, composing treatises against us and in them attempting to slander the divine Scriptures, and mentioning those who had expounded them, being able to bring no base charge whatever against the doctrines, for lack of arguments turns to reviling, and to slandering the expositors, and most of all Origen?
Saying that he had known him in his youth, he attempts to slander him, but unawares rather commends the man—telling the truth in some things, where he could not say otherwise, but lying in others, where he thought he would escape notice; now accusing him as a Christian, now describing his progress in the philosophic studies.
Hear, then, what he says in these very words: 'Some, in their eagerness to find a solution—not a renunciation—of the wickedness of the Jewish Scriptures, turned to interpretations incoherent and ill-fitting with the things written, bringing not so much a defence of the foreign matter as approval and praise of their own. For boasting that the things plainly said by Moses are riddles, and divinizing them as oracles full of hidden mysteries, and through their conceit bewitching the critical faculty of the soul, they bring in their interpretations.'
Then, after other matters, he says: 'This manner of absurdity is to be traced to a man whom I too, while still quite young, met—a man of great repute, and still in repute through the writings he has left behind, Origen, whose renown is widely spread among the teachers of these doctrines.
For this man, having become a hearer of Ammonius, who in our times had made the greatest progress in philosophy, gained much benefit from his teacher in respect of experience in discourse, but in respect of the right choice of life took the opposite road from him.
For Ammonius, being a Christian, brought up by Christian parents, when he took to thought and philosophy, straightway changed to the life according to the laws; but Origen, a Greek educated in Greek learning, drove headlong toward the barbarian recklessness; and toward this he carried himself and his attainment in discourse and made merchandise of it—living, as to his manner of life, after the Christian and lawless fashion, but, as to his opinions concerning things and concerning the Deity, playing the Greek and slipping the things of the Greeks under the foreign fables.
For he was ever in company with Plato, and was conversant with the writings of Numenius and Cronius, Apollophanes and Longinus and Moderatus and Nicomachus, and of the men of note among the Pythagoreans; and he used also the books of Chaeremon the Stoic and of Cornutus, from whom, having learned the figurative method of the Greek mysteries, he applied it to the Jewish Scriptures.'
These things were said by Porphyry in the third treatise of his writings against the Christians, telling the truth concerning the man's discipline and wide learning, but plainly lying (for what would he not do, writing against the Christians?) in those things in which he says that Origen passed over from the Greeks, while Ammonius fell from a life of true religion into the heathen way.
For to Origen the teaching of Christ had been preserved from his forefathers, as the earlier history also showed; and to Ammonius the doctrines of divine philosophy remained pure and unimpaired even to the last end of his life, as his very labours testify even now, in the writings he has left, by which he is held in repute among very many—such as that entitled On the Concord of Moses and Jesus, and all the others found among the lovers of the beautiful.
Let these things, then, be set forth to establish both the false accusation of the liar and Origen's wide experience in the Greek studies; concerning which, defending himself to certain who blamed him for his zeal in those matters, he writes thus in a certain letter:
'Since I was devoted to the word, and the fame of our competence was going abroad, there came to me now heretics, now those from the Greek studies and especially those in philosophy; it seemed good to me to examine both the doctrines of the heretics and what the philosophers professed to say concerning truth.
And this we did, imitating Pantaenus, who before us profited many and had no small preparation in those matters, and Heraclas, who now sits in the presbytery of the Alexandrians, whom I found with the teacher of the philosophic studies, having already persevered with him five years before I began to hear those discourses;
and on whose account, having before worn the common dress, he laid it aside and assumed the philosopher's garb, which he keeps to this day, and does not cease to study the books of the Greeks to the best of his power.'
And these things were said by him in defence of his Greek discipline. About this time, while he was making his stay at Alexandria, one of the soldiers stood by and delivered letters to Demetrius the bishop of the community and to the then prefect of Egypt, from the governor of Arabia, that they should send Origen with all speed to confer with him. So he came to Arabia; and having quickly brought to its end the object of his coming, he returned again to Alexandria.
Some time having intervened, when no small war was kindled in the city, slipping out of Alexandria he went to Palestine and made his stay at Caesarea; where the bishops there requested him to discourse and to interpret the divine Scriptures publicly in the church, although he had not yet received the ordination of the presbyterate.
This itself becomes evident from what Alexander the bishop of Jerusalem and Theoctistus of Caesarea, writing about Demetrius, plead somewhat thus: 'He added in his letters that this had never been heard, nor had now happened, that laymen should preach in the presence of bishops'—saying, I know not how, what is plainly not true.
For wherever there are found men fit to profit the brethren, they are even invited by the holy bishops to address the people, as at Laranda Euelpis by Neon, and at Iconium Paulinus by Celsus, and at Synnada Theodore by Atticus, our blessed brethren. And it is likely that this happens in other places too without our knowledge.' Thus was the man of whom we speak honoured even while still young, not only by his familiar friends but by bishops of foreign parts.
But when Demetrius again recalled him by letters, and urged him by men who were deacons of the church to return to Alexandria, he came back and fulfilled his customary labours.
At this time there flourished many learned men of the Church, whose letters, which they exchanged with one another, it is easy still to find preserved. These too have been kept for us in the library at Aelia, furnished by Alexander who then governed the church there; from which we ourselves have been able to gather together the materials of the subject in hand.
Of these, Beryllus has left, besides letters, also various beautiful works; he was bishop of the Arabians at Bostra. Likewise also Hippolytus, who himself too presided over a church somewhere.
There has come down to us also a dialogue of Gaius, a most learned man, held at Rome in the time of Zephyrinus against Proclus, who championed the heresy of the Phrygians; in which, curbing the rashness and daring of his opponents in composing new Scriptures, he mentions only thirteen epistles of the holy apostle, not numbering that to the Hebrews with the rest; since indeed even to this day among some of the Romans it is not reckoned to be the apostle's.
But Antoninus, having reigned seven years and six months, was succeeded by Macrinus; and he having lasted a year, again another Antoninus took over the rule of the Romans; in whose first year the bishop of the Romans, Zephyrinus, departed this life, having held the ministry full eighteen years.
After him Callistus was entrusted with the bishopric, who, surviving five years, left the ministry to Urban. The emperor Alexander succeeded thereupon to the rule of the Romans, Antoninus having lasted only four years. At this time also, in the church of the Antiochenes, Asclepiades was succeeded by Philetus.
The mother of the emperor, Mamaea by name, a woman most devout if ever there was one, since the fame of Origen was noised abroad everywhere, so that it came even to her ears, set great store by being deemed worthy of a sight of the man, and of making trial of his understanding of divine things, admired by all.
Being then at Antioch, she summoned him with a military escort. With her he spent some time, and after displaying very many things for the glory of the Lord and for the excellence of the divine teaching, he hastened back to his customary labours.
Then indeed Hippolytus too, composing, among very many other memoirs, the treatise On the Pascha, in which, setting forth a reckoning of times and putting forward a certain canon of a sixteen-year cycle concerning the Pascha, he bounds his times at the first year of the emperor Alexander. Of his other writings, those that have come down to us are these: On the Hexaemeron; On the things after the Hexaemeron; Against Marcion; On the Song; On parts of Ezekiel; On the Pascha; Against all the heresies; and very many others which you may find preserved among many.
From that time also a beginning was made of Origen's commentaries on the divine Scriptures, Ambrose urging him on by countless exhortations—not only by encouragements through words and entreaties, but also by most ungrudging supplies of necessaries.
For more than seven shorthand-writers attended him as he dictated, relieving one another at appointed times; and copyists not fewer, together with maidens trained in fair writing. The needful abundant supply of all these Ambrose furnished; nay, more, he brought to him an unspeakable eagerness in the discipline and zeal for the divine oracles, by which especially he urged him on to the composing of commentaries.
These things being so, Urban, having held the bishopric of the church of the Romans eight years, was succeeded by Pontian; and that of the Antiochenes, after Philetus, by Zebennus. In their time Origen,
a pressing need on account of ecclesiastical affairs requiring him, set out for Greece by way of Palestine, and at Caesarea received the laying-on of hands for the presbyterate from the bishops there. The matters that were thereupon stirred up concerning him, and the things decreed by those who presided over the churches concerning what had been stirred up, and all else that, in his prime, he contributed to the divine word, requiring a treatise of their own, we have recorded with some fullness in the second book of the Apology we have composed on his behalf.
But to those things this should be added: that in the sixth book of his Expositions of the Gospel according to John he indicates that he had composed the first five while still at Alexandria; and of his work on the whole of this same gospel only twenty-two volumes have come down to us.
In the ninth of those On Genesis (and they are twelve in all) he discloses that he had written, before the ninth, not only commentaries at Alexandria, but also on the first twenty-five Psalms, and besides those on the Lamentations, of which there have come down to us five volumes, in which he mentions also the books On the Resurrection;
and these too are two. Moreover, he wrote the books On First Principles before his removal from Alexandria; and the work entitled Stromateis, ten in number, he composed in the same city, in the reign of Alexander, as the notes in his own hand prefixed to the volumes also show.
In expounding the first Psalm he has set out a catalogue of the sacred Scriptures of the Old Testament, writing thus in these very words: 'It should not be unknown that the canonical books, as the Hebrews hand them down, are twenty-two, the same in number as the letters among them.'
Then, after some matters, he adds, saying: 'These are the twenty-two books according to the Hebrews: that which among us is entitled Genesis, but among the Hebrews, from the beginning of the book, Bresith, which is "In the beginning"; Exodus, Ouellesmoth, which is "These are the names"; Leviticus, Ouikra, "And he called"; Numbers, Ammesphekodeim; Deuteronomy, Elleaddebareim, "These are the words"; Joshua son of Nun, Iosoue ben Noun; Judges, Ruth, among them in one, Sophteim; Kingdoms I and II, among them one, Samuel, "the God-called"; Kingdoms III and IV in one, Ouammelchdavid, which is "the kingdom of David"; Chronicles I and II in one, Dabreiamein, which is "words of days"; Esdras I and II in one, Ezra, which is "helper"; the book of Psalms, Spharthelleim; the Proverbs of Solomon, Meloth; Ecclesiastes, Koelth; the Song of Songs (not, as some suppose, Songs of Songs), Sirassireim; Isaiah, Iessia; Jeremiah with Lamentations and the Epistle in one, Ieremia; Daniel, Daniel; Ezekiel, Iezekiel; Job, Iob; Esther, Esther. And outside these are the Maccabees, which are entitled Sarbethsabanaiel.'
These things, then, he sets in the aforesaid treatise. But in the first of those On Matthew, keeping the ecclesiastical canon, he testifies that he knows only four gospels, writing thus:
'As I have learned by tradition concerning the four gospels, which alone are undisputed in the Church of God under heaven: that first was written that according to Matthew, once a tax-gatherer but afterward an apostle of Jesus Christ, who published it for those who came to believe from Judaism, composed in Hebrew letters;
second, that according to Mark, who composed it as Peter directed him, and whom Peter also confessed as a son in the catholic epistle, saying in these words: "She who is in Babylon, elect together with you, salutes you, and Mark my son";
and third, that according to Luke, the gospel praised by Paul, made for those from the Gentiles; and after all, that according to John.'
And in the fifth of his Expositions of the Gospel according to John the same man says this concerning the epistles of the apostles: 'But he who was made sufficient to become a minister of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the spirit, Paul, who fulfilled the gospel from Jerusalem and round about as far as Illyricum, did not write to all the churches he taught; and to those to whom he wrote, he sent but a few lines.
And Peter, on whom the Church of Christ is built, against which the gates of Hades shall not prevail, has left one acknowledged epistle, and let there be also a second; for it is doubted.
Why need I speak of him who leaned on the breast of Jesus, John, who has left one gospel,
confessing that he could make so many that not even the world could contain them; and who wrote also the Apocalypse, being commanded to keep silence and not write the voices of the seven thunders? He has left also an epistle of very few lines; and let there be also a second and a third, since not all say that these are genuine; but both together are not a hundred lines.'
Besides these, concerning the Epistle to the Hebrews, in his Homilies upon it he discusses thus: 'That the character of the diction of the epistle entitled To the Hebrews has not the apostle's vulgarity of speech—he who confessed himself rude in speech, that is, in style—but that the epistle is, in the composition of its diction, more Greek,
everyone who knows how to judge differences of style would acknowledge. And again, that the thoughts of the epistle are admirable and not inferior to the acknowledged apostolic writings, this too anyone who attends to the apostolic reading would agree to be true.'
To these, after other matters, he adds, saying: 'But I, giving my opinion, would say that the thoughts are the apostle's, but the diction and the composition belong to someone who recorded the apostolic teachings and, as it were, made notes on what was said by the teacher. If, then, any church holds this epistle as Paul's, let it be approved on this score also; for not without reason have the men of old handed it down as Paul's.
But who wrote the epistle, the truth God knows; the account that has reached us is, from some who say that Clement, who became bishop of the Romans, wrote the epistle, and from some that it was Luke, who wrote the gospel and the Acts.'
But let this suffice. It was the tenth year of the rule aforesaid when Origen, making his removal from Alexandria to Caesarea, left the catechetical school there to Heraclas. Not long after, Demetrius too, the bishop of the church of the Alexandrians, died, having lasted in the ministry full forty-three years; and Heraclas succeeded him.
At this time Firmilian, bishop of Caesarea of the Cappadocians, was distinguished, displaying such zeal concerning Origen that now he would summon him to the regions about himself for the benefit of the churches, now would set out himself to Judaea and spend some time with him for the sake of advancement in divine things. Moreover, Alexander too, who presided over Jerusalem, and Theoctistus at Caesarea, attending upon him the whole time as upon their only teacher, allowed him to perform the work of interpreting the divine Scriptures and the rest of the ecclesiastical ministry.
Alexander the emperor of the Romans, having completed thirteen years of rule, was succeeded by Maximinus Caesar; who, out of spite against the house of Alexander, which was composed of many believers, raising a persecution, ordered that the rulers of the churches alone should be put to death, as being responsible for the teaching according to the gospel. Then too Origen composed the work On Martyrdom, dedicating the treatise to Ambrose and to Protoctetus, a presbyter of the community at Caesarea, since both had been overtaken by no ordinary distress in the persecution; in which it is recorded that the men distinguished themselves in confession, Maximinus lasting no more than three years. Origen has marked the time of this persecution in the twenty-second book of his Expositions of the Gospel according to John and in various letters.
Gordian having succeeded Maximinus in the rule of the Romans, in the church at Rome Pontian, who had been bishop six years, was succeeded by Anteros, and he by Fabian, who had ministered a month;
they say that Fabian, after the death of Anteros, having come from the country together with others, was sojourning at Rome, where most marvellously, by the divine and heavenly grace, he came to the clergy.
For when all the brethren were assembled for the choosing of him who should succeed to the bishopric, and very many distinguished and renowned men were in the minds of the multitude, Fabian, though present, came into no man's thought; nevertheless, they record, all of a sudden a dove flying down from on high settled upon his head, showing forth a likeness of the descent of the Holy Spirit, in the form of a dove, upon the Saviour;
whereupon all the people, as if moved by one divine Spirit, with all eagerness and one soul cried out that he was worthy, and without delay took him and placed him upon the throne of the bishopric. Then too, the bishop at Antioch, Zebennus, having departed this life, Babylas succeeded to the office; and in Alexandria, Heraclas having received the ministry after Demetrius, Dionysius succeeded to the charge of the catechizing there, being himself also one of the pupils of Origen.
To Origen at Caesarea, while he was doing his customary work, came many, not only of the people of the country, but also countless pupils from abroad, who had left their native lands. Of these we know as most distinguished Theodore—who was that very Gregory, renowned among the bishops of our day—and his brother Athenodorus; whom, when they were vehemently set upon the Greek and Roman studies, instilling into them a love of philosophy, he urged to exchange their former zeal for the divine discipline. Having spent five whole years with him, they carried away so great an advancement in divine things that, while both were still young, they were deemed worthy of the bishopric of the churches in Pontus.
At this time also Africanus, the writer of the work entitled the Cesti, was known. A letter of his written to Origen is extant, expressing his perplexity, as though the story of Susanna in Daniel were spurious and fabricated; to which Origen replies most fully.
Of the same Africanus there have come down to us also other accurately laboured works, five in number, of Chronographies; in which he says that he himself made a journey to Alexandria on account of the great fame of Heraclas, who, as we have shown, having greatly distinguished himself in philosophic discourses and the other Greek studies, was entrusted with the bishopric of the church there. And another letter of the same Africanus is extant, to Aristides,
concerning the supposed discrepancy in the genealogies of Christ in Matthew and Luke; in which he most clearly establishes the agreement of the evangelists, from an account that came down to him, which in due course, in the first book of the subject in hand, I have already set forth.
At this time Origen's commentaries on Isaiah, and at the same time those on Ezekiel, were being composed; of which, on the third part of Isaiah, down to the vision of the four-footed beasts in the wilderness, thirty volumes have come down to us, and on Ezekiel twenty-five, which alone he made on the whole prophet. Being then at Athens, he finished those on Ezekiel,
and began those on the Song of Songs, and advanced there as far as the fifth treatise; and having returned to Caesarea he brought these too to their end, ten in number.
But what need is there at present to make an exact catalogue of the man's works, which would require a leisure of its own? This we have set down in the record of the life of Pamphilus, the holy martyr of our day, in which, showing how great was the zeal of Pamphilus concerning divine things, I set forth the indexes of the library he gathered, both of the works of Origen and of the other ecclesiastical writers; from which whoever pleases may most fully ascertain the works of Origen that have come down to us. But now we must proceed with the sequence of the history.
Beryllus, mentioned a little before, bishop of Bostra in Arabia, perverting the ecclesiastical canon, attempted to bring in certain things foreign to the faith, daring to say that our Saviour and Lord did not pre-exist in a distinct circumscription of being before His sojourn among men, nor had a divinity of His own, but only the Father's dwelling in Him.
Concerning this, when very many bishops had held inquiries and discussions with the man, Origen, being invited with others, came down first to a conversation with the man, to test what his mind was; and when he had learned what he asserted, correcting him as not orthodox, and persuading him by reasoning, he set him upon the truth of the doctrine and restored him to his former sound opinion.
And there are still extant in writing records both of Beryllus and of the synod held on his account, together with Origen's inquiries with him and the discussions delivered in his community, and all the particulars of what was then done.
And countless other things concerning Origen the presbyters of our day hand down in memory, which I think I shall pass over, as not belonging to the present work; but whatever was necessary to know about him may be gathered from the Apology laboured by us, together with the holy martyr of our day, Pamphilus, which we composed with mutual toil for the sake of the captious.
Gordian having completed full six years of the Roman rule, Philip together with his son Philip succeeded to the office. An account holds that he, being a Christian, on the day of the last vigil of the Pascha wished to share in the prayers of the church with the multitude, but was not permitted to enter by him who then presided until he should make confession and enroll himself among those examined as in transgression and holding a place of repentance; for otherwise, had he not done this, on account of the many charges concerning him, he would never have been received by him. And he is said to have obeyed readily, showing by deeds the genuine and reverent disposition of his fear toward God.
It was the third year of his reign when Heraclas, having departed this life after sixteen years of presiding over the churches at Alexandria, was succeeded in the bishopric by Dionysius.
Then indeed, as was natural, the faith increasing and our word being spoken with boldness before all, they say that Origen, being more than sixty years old, since by his long preparation he had now gathered the greatest competence, permitted his public discourses to be taken down by shorthand-writers, a thing he had never before allowed to be done.
At this time he composed the eight treatises in answer to the work entitled, against us, The True Word, of Celsus the Epicurean; and the twenty-five volumes on the Gospel according to Matthew, and those on the twelve prophets, of which we have found only twenty-five.
There is extant of him also a letter to the emperor Philip himself, and another to his wife Severa, and various others to various persons; of which, as many as we have been able to gather, preserved here and there among different people, we have arranged in separate collections of volumes, that they might no longer be scattered—they exceed the number of a hundred.
He writes also to Fabian the bishop at Rome, and to very many other rulers of churches, concerning his orthodoxy. You have the proofs of these too in the sixth book of the Apology written by us concerning the man.
Again, others in Arabia about the time mentioned sprang up as introducers of a doctrine alien to the truth, who said that the human soul, for the present, at the time of death dies together with the bodies and is destroyed with them, but again at the time of the resurrection will come to life with them. And when, accordingly, no small synod had been convened, Origen was again invited; and there too, having raised discussions publicly concerning the question, he carried himself in such a way that the minds of those formerly in error were changed.
Then too another perversion took its beginning, the so-called heresy of the Helkesaites, which was extinguished as soon as it began. Origen mentions it, preaching publicly on the eighty-second Psalm, saying somewhat thus: 'There has come at present a man priding himself greatly on being able to champion an opinion godless and most impious, called that of the Helkesaites, lately risen up against the churches. What evils that opinion speaks I will set before you, that you be not carried away. It sets aside certain parts of every Scripture; it uses again sayings from every Scripture, both of the Old and of the gospel; the apostle it sets aside altogether. It says that to deny is a matter of indifference, and that the man who has understanding will, in necessities, deny with his mouth but not with his heart. And they bring forward a certain book, which they say fell from heaven, and that he who has heard it and believes will receive remission of sins—another remission than that which Christ Jesus granted.'
But Philip, having reigned seven years, was succeeded by Decius; who, out of enmity toward Philip, raised a persecution against the churches, in which Fabian was perfected by martyrdom at Rome, and Cornelius succeeded to the bishopric.
In Palestine, Alexander the bishop of the church of Jerusalem, again for Christ standing before the governor's tribunals at Caesarea and distinguishing himself in a second confession, underwent imprisonment, crowned with sleek old age and venerable grey hairs.
He, after his splendid and conspicuous testimony at the governor's tribunals, fell asleep in prison, and Mazabanes was appointed his successor in the bishopric at Jerusalem.
And in like manner with Alexander, Babylas at Antioch, after confession, having departed this life in prison, Fabius presided over the church there.
Now what things, and how great, befell Origen in the persecution, and with what end he met—when the evil demon, matching himself against the man, arrayed his whole host against him and assailed him with every device and power, and beyond all who were warred against at that time bore down upon him with peculiar fury—what and how great things the man endured for the word of Christ: bonds and bodily torments, punishments under iron and in the recesses of the prison; and how for very many days, with his feet stretched four spaces apart in the stocks of torture, he bore threats of fire and all else inflicted by his enemies; and what end his case had, the judge contending with all his might that he should by no means be put to death; and what utterances, full of profit to those needing relief, he left behind afterward—all this very many letters of the man contain, with truth and exactness alike.
The things concerning Dionysius I will set forth from his letter to Germanus, where, telling about himself, he relates thus: 'But I speak before God too, and He knows whether I lie: not on my own counsel, nor without God, did I make my flight; but even before, when the persecution under Decius had been proclaimed,
Sabinus that very hour sent a frumentarius to search me out; and I remained four days at my house, awaiting the coming of the frumentarius; but he went all about searching, the roads, the rivers, the fields, where he supposed me to be hidden or walking, but was held by a kind of blindness, not finding the house; for he did not believe that I, being pursued, remained at home.
And hardly, after the fourth day, God bidding me remove and marvellously making a way, I and my servants and many of the brethren went out together. And that this was a work of God's providence the sequel showed, in which perhaps we proved useful to some.'
Then, after saying something in between, he discloses the things that befell him after his flight, adding this: 'For I, about sunset, together with those with me, was seized by the soldiers and led to Taposiris; but Timothy, by the providence of God, chanced not to be present and was not taken; coming later he found the house deserted and servants guarding it, and us carried off into slavery.'
And after other matters he says: 'And what was the manner of His marvellous dispensation? For the truth shall be told. One of the country-folk met Timothy as he fled, distraught, and asked the cause of his haste; and he told the truth, and the man, hearing it
(he was going off to feast at a wedding, for it is their custom in such gatherings to spend the whole night), went in and told those reclining at table; and they, with one impulse, as if by signal, all rose up, and rushing swiftly came with all speed, and falling upon us raised a shout; and the soldiers guarding us at once taking flight, they stood over us as we lay on the uncovered pallets. And I—
God knows that at first I thought them robbers come for plunder and pillage—remaining on my bed, was naked in my linen garment, and held out the rest of my clothing lying beside me; but they bade me rise and go out as quickly as possible.
And then, understanding why they were there, I cried out, beseeching and entreating them to depart and let us be; and if they wished to do any good thing, I asked them to anticipate those who were leading me away and to cut off my head. And as I cried out such things, as those who shared all things with me and were partakers know, they raised me up by force. And I let myself fall flat upon the ground, but they, seizing my hands and feet, dragged me out; and there followed me the witnesses of all these things, Gaius, Faustus, Peter, Paul;
who, taking me up, carried me out of the little town, and setting me on a bare ass led me away.' These things Dionysius concerning himself.
The same man, in his letter to Fabius bishop of the Antiochenes, relates thus the contests of those who suffered martyrdom at Alexandria under Decius: 'The persecution among us did not begin with the imperial edict, but anticipated it by a whole year; and the prophet and author of evils to this city, whoever he was, getting the start, moved and incited against us the multitudes of the heathen, kindling them up to their native superstition. Stirred up by him and seizing upon all license for unhallowed deeds,
they reckoned this the only piety, the worship of their demons, to thirst for our blood. First, then, seizing an old man, Metras by name, and bidding him utter godless words,
when he would not obey, beating his body with clubs and stabbing his face and eyes with sharp reeds, they led him to the suburb and stoned him.
Then, leading a faithful woman, Quinta by name, to the idol-temple, they tried to force her to worship; and when she turned away and abhorred it, they bound her by the feet and dragged her through the whole city over the rough pavement, dashing her against the millstones, and at the same time scourging her, and led her to the same place and stoned her.
Then with one accord all rushed upon the houses of the godly, and falling upon those whom each recognized as neighbours, they led them off, plundered and pillaged, appropriating the more precious of the treasures, but the cheaper, and whatever was made of wood, scattering and burning in the roads, so that they presented the sight of a city taken by enemies.
But the brethren gave way and withdrew, and like those to whom Paul bore witness they received the plundering of their goods with joy; and I know not whether any—unless perhaps some one who fell in their way—up to this point denied the Lord.
But also the most admirable virgin then, the aged Apollonia, they seized, and knocking out all her teeth they smote her jaws; and heaping up a pyre before the city they threatened to burn her alive, unless she would utter along with them the proclamations of impiety. She, asking a little respite and being released, leapt vehemently into the fire and was consumed.
And seizing Serapion at his own hearth, racking him with cruel tortures and breaking all his joints, they threw him down headlong from the upper story. And no way, no highway, no lane was passable for us, neither by night nor by day, all and everywhere always crying out that, unless one should chant the blasphemous words, he must straightway be dragged off and burnt. And these things flourished in this fashion for a long time;
but when sedition and civil war succeeded upon the wretches, it turned their cruelty against us upon one another; and we breathed again a little, as they had no leisure for their wrath against us. But immediately the change from that more merciful reign was announced to us, and great was the fear of the threat hanging over us.
And indeed the edict was at hand, almost that very thing foretold by our Lord—the most fearful thing, so as, if possible, to offend even the elect.
Howbeit, all cowered; and many of the more distinguished at once, some came forward from fear, others, holding public office, were led on by their duties, others were dragged by those about them; and being called by name they approached the impure and unholy sacrifices, some pale and trembling, as though they were not to sacrifice but themselves to be the victims and offerings to the idols, so that the great crowd standing round mocked them, and it was plain that they were cowards toward everything alike, both toward dying and toward sacrificing;
but others ran more readily to the altars, asserting by their boldness that they had not even been Christians before—concerning whom the Lord's prediction is most true, that they shall hardly be saved. Of the rest, some followed one or other of these, and some fled;
and some were taken, and of these some went as far as bonds and prison, and some, having been shut up many days, then, even before coming to the tribunal, forswore the faith, and some, having endured tortures up to a point, gave up at the next stage.
But the firm and blessed pillars of the Lord, strengthened by Him and receiving power and endurance worthy of and proportionate to the strong faith within them, became admirable martyrs of His kingdom;
of whom the first was Julian, a man so gouty that he could neither stand nor walk, brought forward with two others who carried him; of whom the one straightway denied, but the other, Cronion by name, surnamed Eunus, and the old man Julian himself, having confessed the Lord, were carried through the whole city, which is very great, as you know, mounted on camels and scourged aloft, and at last, with all the people pouring round, were consumed with quicklime.
And a soldier who stood by them as they were led away and opposed those who insulted them, when they cried out, the most manful man-at-arms of God, Besas, being brought forward and having borne himself bravely in the great war for true religion, was beheaded.
And another, a Libyan by race, and by name as well as by blessing truly Macar ('Blessed'), though much exhorted by the judge to deny, would not be induced, and was burnt alive. And after them Epimachus and Alexander, after the long time they remained in bonds, having borne countless agonies, scrapers and scourges, these too were consumed with unquenched fire.
And with them four women: Ammonarion, a holy virgin, whom the judge tortured very contentiously for a very long time, since she had declared beforehand that she would utter nothing of what he commanded, having made good her declaration, was led away; and the rest, the most venerable aged Mercuria, and Dionysia, who was the mother of many children but did not love her children above the Lord—the governor, ashamed to torture them further to no purpose and to be worsted by women, put them to death by the sword, taking no further trial of tortures; for their champion Ammonarion had received them on behalf of them all.
And Heron and Ater and Isidore, Egyptians, and with them a lad of about fifteen, Dioscorus, were delivered up; and first the youth, the judge attempting to deceive him with words as easily led astray, and to constrain him with tortures as easily yielding, Dioscorus neither was persuaded nor gave way.
The rest, having most savagely scraped, when they endured, he gave to the fire also; but Dioscorus, who had shone forth in public and answered most wisely to his questions, he marvelled at and released, saying that he granted him a respite for repentance on account of his age; and now the most godly Dioscorus is with us, having remained for a longer and more enduring contest and prize.
And one Nemesion, he too an Egyptian, was first falsely accused of consorting with robbers; but having cleared himself of this most alien slander before the centurion, being informed against as a Christian he came as a prisoner before the governor; and the most unjust man, having mangled him with double the tortures and scourges given to the robbers, burnt him between the robbers, the blessed man being honoured by the example of Christ.
And a whole band of soldiers—Ammon and Zeno and Ptolemaeus and Ingenuus, and with them the old man Theophilus—stood before the tribunal; and when one being judged as a Christian was already inclining to denial, these standing by gnashed their teeth, and made signs with their faces and stretched out their hands and gestured with their bodies.
And when all turned toward them, before any could lay hold of them, anticipating, they ran up to the bar, declaring themselves Christians, so that the governor and his assessors were terrified, and those being judged appeared most courageous in respect of what they should suffer, while the judges trembled. And these went forth from the tribunals in triumph and exulted in their testimony, God leading them gloriously in triumph.'
And very many others throughout the cities and villages were torn in pieces by the heathen, of whom for the sake of one example I will make mention. Ischyrion was steward to one of the magistrates for hire. His employer ordered him to sacrifice; and when he would not obey, abused him; when he persisted, reviled him; and when he stood firm, taking a very great staff and thrusting it through his bowels and entrails, slew him.
What need is there to tell the multitude of those who wandered in deserts and mountains and were destroyed by hunger and thirst and cold and sicknesses and robbers and wild beasts? Of whom the survivors are witnesses of their election and victory; but one deed of these too I will set forth in proof.
Chaeremon, exceedingly aged, was bishop of the city called Nilus. He fled to the Arabian mountain with his consort, and did not return; nor could the brethren see them any more, though they searched much, neither themselves nor their bodies.
And many on that same Arabian mountain were carried off into slavery by barbarian Saracens; of whom some were hardly ransomed at great cost, and some not even to this day. And these things I have related not in vain, brother, but that you may know how many and how grievous things befell us; of which those who have had more experience would know more.'
Then, after a little, he adds, saying: 'These very divine martyrs among us, who now are assessors of Christ and partakers of His kingdom and sharers of His judgment and judges together with Him, received certain of the fallen brethren who had become liable to the charges of sacrificing; and seeing their conversion and repentance, and judging it able to be acceptable to Him who in no wise wills the death of the sinner but rather his repentance, they received and gathered and presented them, and shared with them in prayers and feasts. What, then, brethren, do you counsel us concerning these?
What must we do? Shall we stand of one vote and one mind with them, and keep their judgment and grace, and deal kindly with those who have been pitied by them? Or shall we make their judgment unjust, and set ourselves up as judges of their opinion, and grieve kindness, and overturn the order?' These things Dionysius reasonably set down, stirring up the question concerning those who had failed at the time of the persecution.
Inasmuch as Novatus, a presbyter of the church of the Romans, lifted up with pride against these, as though there were no longer any hope of salvation for them, not even if they should perform all things tending to a genuine conversion and pure confession, became the head of a peculiar heresy of those who, in the pride of their reckoning, declared themselves 'the Pure';
on which account a very great synod was convened at Rome, of sixty bishops in number, and of yet more presbyters and deacons, while separately throughout the rest of the provinces the pastors in their several regions deliberated concerning what should be done, a decree was passed by all: that Novatus, together with those who were lifted up with him, and those who chose to consent to the brother-hating and most inhuman opinion of the man, should be held as aliens from the Church; but that the brethren who had fallen into the calamity should be healed and tended with the medicines of repentance.
There came to us, then, letters of Cornelius bishop of the Romans to Fabius of the church of the Antiochenes, setting forth the things concerning the Roman synod and what was decided by those in Italy and Africa and the regions there; and again others, composed in the Latin tongue, of Cyprian and those with him in Africa, by which it was made clear that they too agreed that those who had been tried should obtain succour, and that it was reasonable to make the head of the heresy, and all alike who were carried away with him, excommunicate from the catholic Church.
With these was joined another letter of Cornelius concerning the things approved at the synod, and again another concerning the things done by Novatus; from which there is nothing to hinder our setting down portions, that those here who read this writing may know the things concerning him. Instructing Fabius, then, what manner of man Novatus was,
Cornelius writes these very things: 'But that you may know that this admirable man was long ago aiming at the bishopric, and concealing within himself this his rash desire, using as a cover for his madness the fact that at the first he had the confessors with him, I wish to tell you.
Maximus a presbyter of ours, and Urban, who twice reaped the most excellent glory of confession, and Sidonius, and Celerinus, a man who through the mercy of God bore all tortures most steadfastly and by the strength of his faith strengthened the weakness of the flesh and mightily conquered the adversary—these men, then, perceiving him and detecting the craft and duplicity in him, and his perjuries and falsehoods, and his unsociableness and wolf-friendship, returned to the holy Church, and in the presence of many bishops and presbyters and very many laymen declared all his contrivances and villainies, which he had long harboured within himself and kept hid, lamenting and repenting that, persuaded by the crafty and malicious beast, they had for a little while left the Church.'
Then, after a little, he says: 'How great a change and reversal, beloved brother, we beheld in a short time wrought upon him! For that most illustrious man, who by certain fearful oaths pledged that he in no wise aimed at the bishopric, suddenly appears as a bishop, flung into the midst as it were by some sleight-of-hand.
For this very doctrinaire, this champion of ecclesiastical learning, when he was attempting to wrest and snatch the bishopric not given him from above, chose for himself two associates, men who had despaired of their own salvation, that he might send them to some small and least part of Italy and thence by some fabricated device deceive three bishops, rude and most simple men, affirming and insisting that they must come quickly to Rome, in order that, forsooth, whatever dissension had arisen might be dissolved together with other bishops and by their mediation;
and when these had come—being, as we said before, men too simple for the contrivances and knaveries of the wicked—being shut up by certain disordered men like himself, at the tenth hour, drunken and reeling, he forced them by violence, with a kind of feigned and empty laying-on of hands, to give him a bishopric which he claims by ambush and knavery, though it did not belong to him; of whom one not long after returned to the Church,
lamenting and confessing his sin, with whom we communicated as a layman, all the people present interceding for him; and to the other bishops we ordained and sent successors into the places where they were.
This avenger of the gospel, then, did not know that there must be one bishop in a catholic church, in which—as he was not ignorant, how could he be?—there are forty-six presbyters, seven deacons, seven subdeacons, forty-two acolytes, exorcists and readers together with doorkeepers fifty-two, widows with afflicted persons above fifteen hundred, all of whom the grace and loving-kindness of the Master nourishes;
whom neither this great multitude, so necessary in the Church, a number rich and abounding by the providence of God, together with a very great and innumerable people, recalled and turned back from such desperation and renunciation into the Church.'
And again, after other matters, he adds these: 'Come, let us next say by what works or what conduct he took courage to lay claim to the bishopric. Was it because from the first he had been conversant in the Church, and had contended many contests on its behalf, and had been in many and great perils for the sake of true religion?
Nay, it is not so; to whom the occasion of believing was Satan, who entered into him and dwelt in him a long time; who, being helped by the exorcists, fell into a grievous sickness, and being thought all but certain to die, received, on the very bed where he lay, baptism by affusion—if indeed one should say that such a man received it. Nor yet did he obtain the rest of the things, when he had escaped the sickness,
of which he ought to partake according to the canon of the Church, and the being sealed by the bishop; and not having obtained these, how could he have obtained the Holy Spirit?'
And again, after a little, he says: 'He who, through cowardice and love of life, at the time of the persecution denied that he was a presbyter. For being asked and exhorted by the deacons that, coming forth from the little chamber in which he had shut himself up, he should help the brethren so far as was lawful and possible for a presbyter to help endangered brethren in need of succour, he was so far from obeying the deacons who exhorted him, that he went off angry and departed; for he said that he no longer wished to be a presbyter, being a lover of another philosophy.'
Passing over a few things, he adds these again: 'For this illustrious man forsook the Church of God, in which, having believed, he was deemed worthy of the presbyterate by the grace of the bishop who laid hands on him for the order of the presbyterate; who, being hindered by all the clergy, and also by many laymen, since it was not lawful that one baptized by affusion in bed through sickness, as this man was, should enter into any order, asked that he might be permitted to ordain this one only.'
Then he adds another, the worst of the man's enormities, saying: 'For when he has made the offerings and is distributing to each his portion and delivering it, he compels the wretched men, instead of blessing, to swear, holding the hands of him who receives with both his own and not letting go until they say this on oath (for I will use his own words): "By the blood and the body of our Lord Jesus Christ never to leave him and turn to Cornelius."
And the wretched man does not taste until he has first cursed himself, and instead of saying the Amen as he receives that bread, he says, "I will not return to Cornelius."'
And after other matters he says these things again: 'But know now that he has been stripped and made desolate, the brethren leaving him day by day and returning to the Church; whom also Moses, the blessed martyr, who lately among us bore a noble and admirable testimony, while still in the world, perceiving his audacity and madness, made him excommunicate, together with the five presbyters who with him had separated themselves from the Church.'
And at the close of the letter he has made a catalogue of the bishops who came to Rome and condemned the folly of Novatus, noting together both their names and the community over which each presided; and of those who did not come to Rome,
but agreed by letters with the vote of the aforesaid, he mentions the names together with the cities from which each wrote. These things, then, Cornelius wrote to set forth to Fabius bishop of Antioch.
To this same Fabius, who was inclining somewhat toward the schism, Dionysius of Alexandria also wrote, and discussing many other things concerning repentance in his letters to him, and going through the contests of those who had lately then suffered martyrdom at Alexandria, relates, among the rest of his history, a thing full of wonder, which it is necessary to hand down here in this writing, being as follows:
'But this one example, which befell among us, I will set forth for you. There was among us a certain Serapion, a faithful old man, who had lived blamelessly the greater part of his time, but in the trial had fallen. This man often besought, and no one heeded him; for indeed he had sacrificed. Falling sick, he continued three successive days speechless and senseless,
but recovering a little on the fourth, he called his daughter's son and said, "How long, child, do you hold me back? I beseech you, make haste, and quickly release me; call me one of the presbyters."
And having said this, he was again speechless. The boy ran to the presbyter; but it was night, and he too was sick. He could not come; but, since an injunction had been given by me that those departing this life, if they besought it—and especially if they had also entreated it before—should be released, that they might depart in good hope, he gave the lad a little of the Eucharist, bidding him soak it and drop it into the old man's mouth.
The boy returned bringing it; and when he had come near, before he entered, Serapion again reviving said, "Are you come, child? The presbyter could not come, but do you quickly what was commanded, and release me." The boy soaked it, and at the same time poured it into his mouth; and when he had swallowed a little, he straightway gave up the spirit.
Was he not plainly preserved and remained until he could be loosed, and, his sin being blotted out, could be acknowledged on account of the many good deeds he had done?'
These things Dionysius. But let us see what manner of things he also wrote to Novatus, who was then troubling the brotherhood of the Romans. Since, then, he made certain of the brethren a pretext of his apostasy and schism, as having been forced by them to come to this, see in what manner he writes to him: 'Dionysius to Novatian his brother, greeting. If, as you say, you were led against your will, you will show it by withdrawing of your own will. For one ought to suffer anything whatever rather than rend the Church of God; and the martyrdom for the sake of not making a schism was not less glorious than that for the sake of not worshipping idols—nay, in my judgment even greater. For there a man bears witness for his own single soul, but here for the whole Church. And now, if you should persuade or constrain the brethren to come to concord, your achievement will be greater than your fault, and the one will not be reckoned, but the other will be praised. But if, when they will not obey, you are unable, save by all means your own soul. I pray that you may fare well, holding to peace in the Lord.'
These things also to Novatus. He writes also to those in Egypt a letter concerning repentance, in which he has set forth his opinions concerning the lapsed, describing the grades of transgressions. And to Colon (this man was bishop of the community of the Hermopolitans)
there is extant a writing of his own concerning repentance, and another, hortatory, to his flock at Alexandria. Among these is also that written to Origen concerning martyrdom; and to the brethren at Laodicea, over whom Thelymidres was bishop, and likewise to those in Armenia, over whom Meruzanes was bishop, he writes concerning repentance.
Besides all these, he writes also to Cornelius at Rome, having received from him the letter against Novatus; in which he signifies, disclosing that he had been invited by Helenus the bishop of Tarsus in Cilicia, and the rest with him, Firmilian of Cappadocia, and Theoctistus of Palestine, to meet at the synod at Antioch, where certain were attempting to strengthen the schism of Novatus.
Besides these, he writes that it had been announced to him that Fabius had fallen asleep, and that Demetrian had been appointed his successor in the bishopric of Antioch; and he writes also concerning the one at Jerusalem in these very words: 'For the admirable Alexander, being in prison, blessedly fell asleep.'
Next after this there is extant also another letter of Dionysius to those at Rome, a diaconal one, through Hippolytus; and to the same he sets forth another concerning peace, and likewise concerning repentance; and again another to the confessors there, who still held with the opinion of Novatus; and to these same two more, after they had come over to the Church, he writes. And conversing likewise by letters with very many others, he has left manifold benefits to those who even now show zeal concerning his writings.