Origen

Origen was born around 185 in Alexandria into a Christian family. He studied sacred texts under the guidance of his father, Leonid. In 202, Leonid was killed. Since 203, Origen began to teach at a theological school, he slept on bare earth, fasted, did not wear shoes, had no change of clothes. But he was popular with women and did not want this to be misinterpreted. There is a version that, having literally understood the words of Jesus: “There are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven” ( Matthew 19:12 ), he overshadowed himself ^[4] , although there is no official confirmation or refutation of this.

He studied ancient philosophy (according to some sources, at the school of Ammonia , from which Plotinus also emerged). Since 217, Origen led a Christian school in Alexandria. Origen was ordained a presbyter . In Alexandria, Origen was brutally tortured by Hellenic heathens. The pagans seized Origen, cut off his hair and planted him at the entrance to the pagan temple of Serapeum , forcing them to distribute palm branches to those who came to serve and worship the idol. Having taken the branches, Origen loudly and boldly said: “Go, accept not the idol branch, but the branch of Christ.” The pagans wanted to give Origen to the Ethiopian for the desecration of the body, unable to endure such a reproach, Origen cried out that he was more likely to make a sacrifice to the idol. Despite his resistance, such a sacrifice occurred: the pagans, putting incense on Origen’s hand, themselves threw him from his hand to the hearth of the altar; according to the court of confessors and martyrs, because of this, he was later deprived of the glory of martyrdom and cast out from the Church ^[5] - in 231 Origen was sentenced at the Alexandria Local Council ^[6] , after which he transferred his teaching activities to Palestine (in Caesarea ). The clergy of the Jerusalem Church urged Origen to preach in the church. Origen stood up and uttered in the church only one following saying: “But the sinner says God:“ that you preach My statutes and take My covenant in your mouth ”” ( Psalm 49:16 ). Then, bending the book, he gave it away and sat down with weeping and tears. Everyone cried with him. In Palestine, Origen met one of the noble and wealthy courtiers - Ambrose . Ambrose did not belong to the Church, but was, according to various sources, a follower of either Marcion or Savelius . Origen persuaded Ambrose to abandon the heresy and join the Church. Ambrose was a scientist and zealous for the study of scripture. Ambrose appreciated the outstanding intellect, ability and knowledge of Origen and invited Origen to study and interpret the Scriptures at his expense. Origen agreed to the proposal. Origen settled in Tire of the Phoenician, where for twenty-eight years he spent his life in works, collecting, studying and explaining the Holy Scriptures. Ambrose fully provided Origen with everything necessary; he paid for writing materials and works, not only Origen, but also the works of the writers and assistants of Origen.

During the next wave of anti-Christian repressions under Emperor Decius , Origen was imprisoned in the city of Tire (modern Sur in Lebanon) and tortured, from whom he soon died .

Emperor Justinian and the condemnation of Origen

The exemplary sanctity of Origen's life and martyrdom contributed to his popularity in monastic circles. The most authoritative centers for the spread of Origenism are the Palestinian monasteries of Mar Saba ( Lavra of Saint Blessed Sanctuary ) and New Lavra in Fekoy near Bethlehem . However, the bishop of Jerusalem, Peter, sends a report to Emperor Justinian about the "original disease of his monks." At the same time, the apocrisarios of the pope, deacon Pelagius arrives in Constantinople and actively opposes Origenism. Desiring to save the religious unity of the empire, Justinian “decided to fully use his right of the Christian Vasileus to press on a hierarchical and theological environment, inclined to raise a dangerous wave of hopeless and lengthy debate” ^[7] .

So in 543, the emperor Justinian issued an edict in which he condemned Origen as a heretic and which in the same year was approved at the local council in Constantinople ^{[8] [9]} .

The historian Evagrius Scholastic reports that Origen and his errors were condemned at the Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553 ^[10] .

Origen completes the early comparative, apologetic Christian theology , which already appeared as a system - this is expressed in his polemic work, entitled “ Against Celsus ”, in the study of the Bible , in his interpretation of religious monuments using the teachings of the Gnostics and Neoplatonists , especially the doctrine of the Logos :

• God is the acting Providence;
• Christ is the image of God the Father: “ Our Savior is the image of the invisible God the Father: in relation to the Father Himself, He is the truth; in relation to us with whom He reveals the Father, He is the image through which we know the Father ”; ^[eleven]

The list of works by Origen included about 2000 "books" (in the ancient sense of the word, that is, parts). The philosophy of Origen is a stoically colored Platonism ^[12] . To align it with faith in the authority of the Bible, Origen, following Philo of Alexandria, developed a doctrine of the three meanings of the Bible:

• "Bodily" (literal)
• "Mental" (moral)
• "Spiritual" (philosophical-mystical), which was given unconditional preference ^[12] .

The system of concepts developed by Origen was widely used in the construction of church dogma (for Origen, for example, the term " God-man " was first used).

Origen's eschatological optimism was reflected in the doctrine of cyclic time , or apocatastasis , which suggests that posthumous retribution and hell are relative, since God, by his goodness, ultimately will save not only the righteous, but all people, all demons, and even himself Satan ^[12] .

Pre-Existence of Souls

Origen taught the pre-existence of human souls - a doctrine that differs markedly from the traditional understanding of reincarnation in Hinduism or Platonism . According to the doctrine of the pre-existence of souls, souls were not embodied in animals or plants - they moved along the path to perfection, adopting more and more “enlightened” bodies in human life forms. Origen argued that fallen souls reincarnate in the bodies of angels, in human bodies on earth, or in lower, demonic forms of life, gradually passing through a series of reincarnations in the conditional "ladder of hierarchies" of intelligent beings.

In Origen’s book "On the Beginnings" (230), this doctrine is stated as follows:

Those who die here by ordinary death are distributed on the basis of the deeds committed here, so that those recognized as worthy of the so-called hellish country receive different places, according to their sins. Also, maybe, those who, so to speak, die there (in heaven), descend to this hell, who are recognized as worthy to live in various, better or worse, dwellings throughout the earth's space and be born from these or other parents, - so that an Israeli can one day be among the Scythians, and an Egyptian can go to Judea.

- ^{[13] [14]} .

According to Protodeacon theology professor A.V. Kuraev , Origen’s doctrine of the pre-existence of the soul was not a reincarnation doctrine, in the sense in which Platonists , Hindus, or Buddhists understand it. Origen suggested that God creates an endless sequence of worlds; but every world is finite and limited. Worlds do not exist in parallel; at the end of one world another begins ^[15] .

If Origen’s earlier book “On the Beginnings” (230) contains “reincarnation fragments”, then in his subsequent works (“Interpretation of the Epistle to the Romans ” (c. 243), “Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew ” (249), the book Against Celsus (249) ^[16] ) Origen sharply criticizes the doctrine of reincarnation ^[15] :

The assumption of metempsychosis or reincarnation of souls is incompatible with the demise of the world, which Scripture clearly affirms. For if we assume that every soul during the current order of things from the beginning to the end of the world is embodied no more than twice, the question is: why is it embodied for the second time? Then, in order to be punished for the sins of the first life in the flesh? But if there is no other way to punish the soul except sending it to the body, then obviously she would have to incarnate not two or three, but an infinite number of times, and then the assurance of St. The scriptures that heaven and earth pass by, there is no way to get their fulfillment.

But let’s suppose the opposite, that is, that souls through incarnations will become more and more refined and purified, and that gradually the number of souls will no longer need more bodies, than the time will finally come when the souls living in the flesh or not at all, or very few; but in this case, how do they get their fulfillment of the word of Scripture, which says that the judgment of God will catch many sinners alive, and that before the end of the world the measure of lawlessness on earth will increase and overflow? Then, the sins of those whom the end of the world will find will be punished according to the Scriptures, not by moving from body to body, but in a completely different way. So, if the advocates of reincarnation admit, besides the punishments described in the word of God, also punishment by moving to new bodies, then let them show us the reasons for this double punishment. Or, rather, those who sin in bodies will be punished outside their bodies within themselves in the depths of their own souls.

- “Interpretation on Matthew” 13.1 // PG XIII, 1088ab and 1089bc

There are similar thoughts in the original interpretations of the Song of Songs :

Further, some seek here: does the soul clothe itself in the body once, and after it leaves it, does not search for it more, or, once having received and left it, perceives it again? And if she perceives it a second time, does she perceive it forever, or one day the day will come again when she will drop it again? But if, according to the authority of Scripture, the end of the world is near, and if this perishable state is replaced by an incorruptible one, then it does not seem doubtful that in the state of present life it cannot enter the body for the second or third time. For, if this is allowed, it will be necessary to follow that, as a result of such prolonged consequences, the world will have no end.

- "Conversations on the Song of Songs." 2,5,24)

A. V. Kuraev also emphasizes that in his work “On the Beginnings”, in which Origen presented his theory, he clearly drew a line between the teachings of the Church and his hypotheses: “however, let the reader carefully discuss and examine what we said regarding the conversion of the mind into the soul and so on, which, apparently, refers to this issue; and we, for our part, expressed this not as dogmas, but in the form of reasoning and research . ” “We rather offered the reader thoughts for discussion, rather than gave a positive and definite teaching . ” “As for us, these are not dogmas; it was said for the sake of reasoning, and we rejected it: it was said only then so that it would not seem to someone that the excited question was not subject to discussion ” ^[15] .

Trinity Doctrine

In his book "On the Beginnings," Origen recognized Jesus Christ as the only begotten Son of God and begotten of him, "however, without any beginning." He also writes: “This birth is eternal and uninterrupted like the way radiance is born from light. For the Son is not the Son by adoption from without through the Holy Spirit, but the Son by nature. "

During the century following the death of Origen, many leading theologians, avoiding mentioning the name of Origen, paraphrased his thoughts in their own writings. In the IV century, Evagrius of Pontius set forth his views, and from him they migrated to the writings of St. John of Cassian . Epiphanius of Cyprus , convinced by the adversary of John Chrysostom, Bishop of Alexandria Theophilos ^[17] , on the contrary, saw in Origen a source of all kinds of heresies and approx. 375 g subjected his "free thinking" to systematic criticism. The translation of the Origenic treatise “On the Beginnings” by Latin Rufin at the end of the 4th century caused a fierce debate with blessed Jerome (who at first called Origen the greatest theologian since the time of the apostles ).

After the anti-original attacks of Jerome, orthodox theologians sharply condemned Origen for heretical opinions (the doctrine of the apocatastasis) and for the inclusion in the Christian dogma of the theses of ancient philosophy incompatible with her (in particular, the Platonic doctrine of the pre-existence of souls). However, it was not possible to exclude the influence of the philosophical system of Origen.

At the end of the 4th century, Origenism was represented by the Long Monks movement, which fell victim to the intrigues of the Archbishop Theophilos of Alexandria in the struggle against John Chrysostom. The monks, who disagreed with Theophilus' wasteful lifestyle and despotism, left Alexandria and began to wander around Egypt and Palestine. As a result, persecuted from everywhere, they came to Constantinople to ask for help from Patriarch John Chrysostom.

In the 6th century, the Origenist movement revived in the Palestinian New Lavra, which prompted Emperor Justinian the Great to issue an edict in 543 , in which Origen was declared a heretic, and the local cathedral of the Church of Constantinople condemned Origen in 553 and extended the condemnation of Origenism to Evagrius and Didim .

The fate of the citadel of Origenism, the New Lavra, was ordered by the protege of the emperor Justinian, Patriarch Eustochius . Eustachius claimed military power, and the New Lavra was cleansed, and then in 555 it was inhabited by 120 Orthodox monks from the Mar Saba monastery and other monasteries ^[18] .

At the Fifth Ecumenical Council, Origen and all who do not want to anathematize him are devoted to anathema:

Сами же мы, имея заповедь назидать народ здравым учением (Тит. 2, 1) и глаголать в сердце Иерусалиму (Исаии 40, 2), то есть Церкви Божией, спешим сеять достойно в правде (Осии 2, 23), собирая плод жизни и возжигая себе самим свет знания из божественнаго Писания и учения святых отцев. Мы почли необходимым изложить кратко по пунктам и проповедание истины и осуждение еретиков и их нечестия. […] 11. Если кто не анафематствует Ария, Евномия, Македония, Аполлинария, Нестория, Евтихия и Оригена, с нечестивыми их сочинениями, и всех прочих еретиков, которые были осуждены и анафематствованы святою кафолическою и апостольскою Церковию и святыми четырьмя помянутыми соборами, и тех, которые мудрствовали или мудрствуют подобно вышесказанным еретикам, и пребыли в своём нечестии до смерти: тот да будет анафема. ^[19]

Осуждение Оригена было подтверждено Шестым Вселенским собором ^[20] .

На Латеранском соборе 649 года все сочинения Оригена были преданы анафеме, также были анафематствованы те, кто не желает анафематствовать и отвергнуть работы в защиту Оригена:

Если кто не отвергает и, в согласии со Святыми Отцами, с нами и с верой, не анафематствует душой и устами всех тех, кого святая, кафолическая и апостольская Божия Церковь (то есть пять Вселенских Соборов и все единодушные им признанные Отцы Церкви) отвергла и анафематствовала вместе с их писаниями, до самой последней строки, как нечестивых еретиков, а именно: […] Оригена, Дидима, Евагрия и всех остальных еретиков вместе взятых […]. Так вот, если кто не отвергает и не анафематствует нечестивое учение их ереси и то, что было нечестиво написано кем бы то ни было в их пользу или в их защиту, равно как и самих упомянутых еретиков […]: таковому человеку да будет анафема. ^[21]

Несмотря на официальное осуждение, труды Оригена не исчезают из богословской библиографии. Наблюдается изучение еретического теолога в средневековых сочинениях, ощутимо сказывается его влияние в трудах Иоанна Скота Эриугены , в эпоху Ренессанса закономерно повышается интерес к циклической концепции времени и развитие других метафизических воззрений Оригена ^[12] .

Ориген был любимым писателем религиозного философа XVIII века Григория Сковороды . Последователь Сковороды Владимир Соловьёв также увлекался идеями Оригена, усвоил и применял во многих своих работах аллегорический метод Оригена. Интересную книгу об Оригене написал один из создателей церковно-исторической школы В. В. Болотов , проанализировав в ней учение Оригена о Троице. Об Оригене писали такие русские богословы как Д. А. Лебедев ^[22] , В. Н. Лосский , Л. П. Карсавин , Г. В. Флоровский и другие. На оригеновские принципы любви и раздора, выраженные соответственно в церковной и мирской историях, ссылался один из основателей славянофильства А. С. Хомяков . Интересно отметить, что в 70-х годах XIX века, Оригеном увлекался русский писатель Н. С. Лесков , хлопотавший о переводе и издании на русском языке книги Оригена «О началах». ^[23]

Автор более 2000 произведений.

• Гексапла
• Против Цельса
• Две беседы на Песнь песней
• О началах (в 4-х кн. или ч.)
• Комментарии к Евангелию от Иоанна
• Комментарии к Евангелию от Матфея
• О молитве
• Письмо к св. Григорию Чудотворцу (еп. Неокесарийскому)
• Письмо к Юлию Африкану
• Трактат о демонах
• Увещание к мученичеству
• Гомилии
• Схолии
• Диалог с Гераклитом
• О воскресении
• Тетрапла

Оригиналы

• Избранные произведения изданы де ла Ру (4 т., 1733 — 1759 ) ( Франция ) и Ломматцшем (25 т., 1831 — 1848 ) ( Германия ).
• Migne, Patrologia Graeca, XI—XVII, 1857
• Origenis Hexaplorum quae supersunt sive veterum interpretum graecorum in totum Vetus Testamentum fragmenta <…> ed. Frederick Field. Oxonii, 1875 ( Том I , Том II ); репринт: Hildesheim: G.Olms, 1964.
• Греческий текст комментария на «Евангелие от Иоанна» (1896): Том I ; Том II .

Переводы

Английские переводы:

• Английские переводы сочинений Оригена
• Против Цельса (кн. 2-8) , английский перевод 1869 года.

Старые русские переводы:

• О молитве. / Per. Н. Корсунского. — Ярославль, 1884. — 178 с.
• Увещание к мученичеству. / Per. Н. Корсунского. — Ярославль, 1886. — 80 с.
• Ориген . О молитве и Увещание к мученичеству. / Per. Н. Корсунского. — СПб., 1897. — 240 с.
  • переизд.: СПб., 1992.
• Творения Оригена . Vol. 1. О началах. / Per. Н. Петрова. — Казань, Казан. духов. Акад. 1899. — 504 с.
  • переизд.: Самара: Ра. 1993. — 320 с. — 50000 экз. ( и другие переиздания )
• Ориген . Против Цельса. Ч. 1. Кн. 1-4. / Per. Л. Писарева. — Казань, 1912. — XXX+482 с.
  • переизд.: М.: Учебно-информационный экуменический центр ап. Павла, 1996.
• Сведения о Скифии и Кавказе. // ВДИ. — 1948. — № 2. — С. 298—300.
• переиздание ряда текстов: Отцы и учители Церкви III века. — М., 1996. — Т. 2. — С. 3-159. ( Ориген . Увещание к мученичеству (с.36 сл.). Из трактата «О молитве»: Наставления о молитве (с. 67 сл.). Толкование на молитву «Отче наш» (с. 79 сл.). / Пер. Н. Корсунского. Из трактата «О началах» (с. 125 сл.). Письмо к св. Григорию Чудотворцу (с. 157 сл.). / Пер. Н. Сагарды.)

Новые русские переводы:

• Ориген . Толкование на Евангелие св. Иоанна. Кн. I. / Пер. А. Цуркана .
• Ориген . Комментарии на Евангелие от Иоанна (т. I, гл. I—XX). / Пер. и предисл. А. Г. Дунаева . // Богословские труды. Sat 38. — М., 2003 . — С. 97-119.
• Ориген . Толкования к Евангелию от Иоанна. Prince 6. / Пер. О. Кулиева. // Ориген . О началах. — СПб.: Амфора, 2007 .
• Ориген. Толкование на Евангелие от Иоанна. / Перевод, комментарии и предисловие О.И,Кулиева. - СПб.: Изд-во РХГА, 2018.

• Лебедев Н. И. Сочинение Оригена против Цельса. Опыт исследования по истории литературной борьбы христианства с язычеством. — М. , 1878.
• Болотов В. В. Учение Оригена о Святой Троице . - SPb. , 1879. — 452 с.
• Елеонский Ф. Г. Учение Оригена о Божестве Сына Божия и Духа Святого и об отношении Их к Отцу. - SPb. , 1879. — 176 с.
• Филевский И. И. Цельс и Ориген. — Харьков, 1910.
• Карташёв А. В. Оригенизм и Ориген / Вселенские Соборы.
• Серегин А. В. Гипотеза множественности миров в трактате Оригена «О началах». — М. : ИФ РАН, 2005. — 197 с. — ISBN 5-9540-0035-2 .
• Соловьёв В. С. ,. Ориген, христианский богослов и философ // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в 86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Нестерова О. Е. Allegoria Pro Typologia: Ориген и судьба иносказательных методов интерпретации Священного Писания в раннепатристическую эпоху. — М. : ИМЛИ РАН, 2006. — 293 с. — ISBN 5-9208-0258-8 .
• Киреева М. В. Ориген и свт. Кирилл Александрийский: толкования на Евангелие от Иоанна: экзегетические методы. (Серия «Византийская библиотека. Исследования»). - SPb. : Алетейя, 2006. — 191 с. — ISBN 5-89329-900-0 .
• Саврей В. Я. Александрийская школа в истории философско-богословской мысли. — М. : КомКнига, 2006. — С. 419—547. — ISBN 5-484-00335-0 .
• Цуркан А. В. Ориген: проблема взаимодействия религии и философии . — Новосибирск: 2002. — ISBN 5-95356-056-4 (ошибоч.) .
• Ермишин О.Т . П.А. Флоренский и Ориген (проблема метафизики) // Философские науки. 2002. № 6.
• Экзаплы // Энциклопедический словарь Брокгауза и Ефрона : в 86 т. (82 т. и 4 доп.). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Гарнак, А . История догматов , Гл.6. § 24
• Frederick Field's prolegomena to Origenis hexaplorum quae supersunt, sive veterum interpretum Graecorum in totum Vetus Testamentum fragmenta. Translated and annotated by Gérard J. Norton; with the collaboration of Carmen Hardin. Paris: J. Gabalda, 2005 (= Cahiers de la Revue biblique, 62) (English translation of the Latin text by F. Field, from his Oxford edition of Origen 1875)
• Nautin P. Origène: sa vie et son œuvre . - Paris: Beauchesne, 1977 .-- 474 p. - (Christianisme antique 1).

• Arkan teaching

• Origen. Against Celsus (Russian translation)
• Origen. Two Conversations on the Song of Songs (Russian translation): Preface Jerome , Conversation One , Conversation Two
• Origen. About the beginnings (Russian translation)
• Origen. Quotations from “Gratitude speech to Origen” sv. Gregory of Neocaesarea (Russian translation)
• Origen. Letter to st. Gregory the Miracle Worker (Bishop of Neocaesarea) (Russian translation)
• Sidorov A. I. The Apologetic Work of Origen “Against Kels (Celsus)” // “The Alphabet of Faith”, Internet portal.
• Sidorov A. I. Biblical-critical work of Origen "Hekzaply" // "The ABC of Faith", Internet portal.