Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c006\">Origen was born in all probability at Alexandria,\r\nabout the year 185 <abbr class=\"spell\"><span class=\"fss\">A.D.</span></abbr><a id=\"r1\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f1\"><sup>[1]</sup></a> Notwithstanding that\r\nhis name is derived from that of an Egyptian deity\r\n(Horus or Or<a id=\"r2\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f2\"><sup>[2]</sup></a>), there seems no reason to doubt\r\nthat his parents were Christian at the time of his birth. His\r\nfather Leonides was probably, as has been conjectured,<a id=\"r3\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f3\"><sup>[3]</sup></a> one of\r\nthe many teachers of rhetoric or grammar who abounded in\r\nthat city of Grecian culture, and appears to have been a man\r\nof decided piety. Under his superintendence, the youthful\r\nOrigen was not only educated in the various branches of\r\nGrecian learning, but was also required daily to commit to\r\nmemory and to repeat portions of Scripture prescribed him by\r\nhis father; and while under this training, the spirit of inquiry\r\ninto the meaning of Scripture, which afterwards formed so striking\r\na feature in the literary character of the great Alexandrine,\r\nbegan to display itself. Eusebius<a id=\"r4\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f4\"><sup>[4]</sup></a> relates that he was not\r\nsatisfied with the plain and obvious meaning of the text, but\r\nsought to penetrate into its deeper signification, and caused his\r\nfather trouble by the questions which he put to him regarding\r\nthe sense of particular passages of Holy Writ. Leonides, like\r\nmany parents, assumed the appearance of rebuking the curiosity\r\nof the boy for inquiring into things which were beyond his\r\nyouthful capacity, and recommended him to be satisfied with\r\nthe simple and apparent meaning of Scripture, while he is\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_xxiv\">xxiv</span>described as inwardly rejoicing at the signs of talent exhibited\r\nby his son, and as giving thanks to God for having made him\r\nthe parent of such a child.<a id=\"r5\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f5\"><sup>[5]</sup></a> But this state of things was not\r\nto last; for in the year 202, when Origen was about seventeen\r\nyears of age, the great persecution of the Christians under\r\nSeptimius Severus broke out, and among the victims was his\r\nfather Leonides, who was apprehended and put in prison.\r\nOrigen wished to share the fate of his father, but was prevented\r\nfrom quitting his home by the artifice of his mother,\r\nwho was obliged to conceal his clothes to prevent him from\r\ncarrying out his purpose! He wrote to his father, however,\r\na letter, exhorting him to constancy under his trials, and entreating\r\nhim not to change his convictions for the sake of his\r\nfamily.<a id=\"r6\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f6\"><sup>[6]</sup></a> By the death of his father, whose property was confiscated\r\nto the imperial treasury, Origen was left, with his\r\nmother and six younger brothers dependent upon him for\r\nsupport. At this juncture, a wealthy and benevolent lady of\r\nAlexandria opened to him her house, of which he became an\r\ninmate for a short time. The society, however, which he\r\nfound there was far from agreeable to the feelings of the\r\nyouth. The lady had adopted as her son one Paul of Antioch,\r\nwhom Eusebius terms an “advocate of the heretics then existing\r\nat Alexandria.” The eloquence of the man drew crowds\r\nto hear him, although Origen could never be induced to regard\r\nhim with any favour, nor even to join with him in any act of\r\nworship, giving then, as Eusebius remarks, “unmistakeable\r\nspecimens of the orthodoxy of his faith.”<a id=\"r7\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f7\"><sup>[7]</sup></a></p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","LIFE OF ORIGEN."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-21"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"8850e70fc40e21ae236414b308b815ce39ef110a1b9bfed3446e27607e29684e","edition_title":"The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 (of 2)","edition_translators":["Frederick Crombie","W. H. Cairns"],"edition_year":1872,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg70693-f2","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Existing 1872 English edition; listed translators died 1889 and 1872. Electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f2","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f2\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r2\">2</a>.  </span><abbr class=\"spell\">Cf.</abbr> <i>Ibid.</i> (<span lang=\"de\">Zweite Beilage: über Namen und Beinamen der Origenes</span>).</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f2","text_sha256":"4c29f2e73ba426b1145e12c73853385fc326413befc01ce25ef4b56bad183706","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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