History of the Copts. Part IV.

Origen and his time

For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. Matth. 19:12.

The Christians from Alexandria in the second century were of the opinion that thinking about religion should have a high level. We call the ones who did the Alexandrian School.
What were the theological subjects of that time?

1. The relation with the Jews. Were the Jews still the Chosen people of God, or had the Church taken that part? The distance between Israel and the church grew larger as the time passed and at a certain moment it was determined that Israel was no longer the Chosen people but the church had taken its place.
   There were a number of reasons for that:
   a. The desctruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in the year 70. Would the Almighty have allowed the destruction of his Temple if Israël was still Gods people?
   b. When the church started all Christians were Jews, but after a 100 years very few Christians from the Jews were still present. c. The Jews were not very popular among heathens. Tacitus, well-known historian from the second century, gives a revolting description of the Jews (Historiae 5.2-5.9). He uses descriptions like "this vilest of nations".
   It is likely that most ordinary Romans shared his views.
   But officially the Jews were allies of the Romans. Judas Maccabaeus had in 161 BC concluded an alliance with the Romans. However, most Christians came from the ordinary people.
   After a few centuries the Roman-Catholic Church became distinctively anti-jewish.
   The problem Church and Israel still plays a role.
2. The description of God in the Old Testament. The description of God in the Old Testament differs distinctively from that of the New Testament. Some Christians of that time rejected the whole of the Old Testament, but not the Church as a whole. The Jews from that time had indeed the same problem.
   This problem was solved by accepting those things as symbolic. That still happens.
3. The relation between Christ being Gods Son and human at the same time.
   Discussions about this went on for ages, and are still going on.
4. What to do with Christians hwo sacrificed to the emperor, and regret it?
   Forgive them, have them do penance, refusing them altogether?
   That is a problem we do not have here and now.

So famous scholars worked at the "University" of Alexandria, famous theologians too. One of them was Origen. He was born in 185 in Alexandria. His father Leonides was in 202 executed for his faith. Origen wanted to support him in his last hours, but his mother would not have it, because she expected that he would be arrested and executed as well. In that she was probably right. And so she hid his cloths, and Origen had to stay home. He then wrote an ardent letter to his father.
After his father's death he as the eldest son had to support the family. He did so by teaching, including to women.
He interpreted the text at the beginning of this document quite literally, and castrated himself to resist carnal temptations.
His environment did not agree with his explanation of this text. On other subjects regarding the life of a Christian he also had the strictest ideas.
Origen has written an enormous oeuvre, at least 6000 works. Most of them were commentaries on the Bible, as a treatise or in the form of a sermon, and letters. Most of his works are lost, or preserved in the from of a (bad) translation.
He stood in contact with Julia Mammaea, mother van the emperor Severus. Not every emperor persecuted the Christians.
After some conflicts with theologians in Alexandria he went to Caesarea.

In his opinion everything in the Bible had to be taken literally unless it was impossible, absurd or unworthy to God. If so it was an allegory, symbolically intended. That happened in a lot of cases, but not in the case of the text on top of this document. He did not believe in individual reconciliation but thought that the death of Christ had reconciliated everybody with God His ideas brought him in conflict with other theologians, and that had as a consequence that he has not been canonized by the Catholic Church, unlike many theologians of that time.
He died in 250 in Tyrus, as a consequence of tortures he had suffered.
In 400 his ideas were condemned by the council of Alexandria, and in 553 once more at the fifth Oecumenical Council of Constantinople.

III. Mark
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V.Diocletian