Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Do You Want to See the Imperial Conspiracy Against the Alexandrian Church in Black and White?

Look at this passage from the writings of Jerome where he explains why Origen was persecuted:

So you see, the labors of this one man [Origen] have surpassed those of all previous writers, Greek and Latin. Who has ever managed to read all that he has written? Yet what reward have his exertions brought him? He stands condemned by his bishop, Demetrius, only the bishops of Palestine, Arabia, Phenecia, and Achaia dissenting. Imperial Rome consents to his condemnation, and even convenes a senate to censure him, not -- as the rabid hounds who now pursue him cry -- because of the novelty or heterodoxy of his doctrines, but because men could not tolerate the incomparable eloquence and knowledge which, when once he opened his lips, made others seem dumb. [Letter 33 to Paula in NPNF 2/6 (1892) 46, with Latin text in FOTC 100 (1999) 177]

Hermann Josef Vogt suggests the Peri archon (= De principiis) of Origen "with its sure knowledge and the attempt to answer hitherto open questions may have aroused the mistrust of Demetrius" (DECL 444).

Is it really that outlandish to suggest not that when we see Clement, Origen's precursor in Alexandria, run for his life years early under the same 'Demetrius' that it was under the same Imperial pressure?


Email stephan.h.huller@gmail.com with comments or questions.


 
Stephan Huller's Observations by Stephan Huller
is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.