{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c007\">The diligence and ability with which Origen prosecuted his\r\nprofession speedily attracted attention and brought him many\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_xxv\">xxv</span>pupils. Among others who sought to avail themselves of his\r\ninstructions in the principles of the Christian religion, were\r\ntwo young men, who afterwards became distinguished in the\r\nhistory of the Church,—Plutarch, who died the death of martyrdom,\r\nand Heraclas, who afterwards became bishop of Alexandria.\r\nIt was not, however, merely by his success as a teacher\r\nthat Origen gained a reputation. The brotherly kindness and\r\nunwearied affection which he displayed to all the victims of the\r\npersecution, which at that time was raging with peculiar severity\r\nat Alexandria under the prefect Aquila, and in which many\r\nof his old pupils and friends were martyred, are described as\r\nbeing so marked and conspicuous, as to draw down upon him\r\nthe fury of the mob, so that he was obliged on several occasions\r\nto flee from house to house to escape instant death. It is easy\r\nto understand that services of this kind could not fail to attract\r\nthe attention of the heads of the Christian community at Alexandria;\r\nand partly, no doubt, because of these, but chiefly on\r\naccount of his high literary reputation, Bishop Demetrius\r\nappointed him to the office of master in the Catechetical\r\nSchool, which was at that time vacant (by the departure of\r\nClement, who had quitted the city on the outbreak of the persecution),\r\nalthough he was still a layman, and had not passed\r\nhis eighteenth year. The choice of Demetrius was amply\r\njustified by the result. Origen discontinued his instructions in\r\nliterature, in order to devote himself exclusively to the work\r\nof teaching in the Catechetical School. For his labours he\r\nrefused all remuneration. He sold the books which he possessed,—many\r\nof them manuscripts which he himself had copied,—on\r\ncondition of receiving from the purchaser four obols<a id=\"r8\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f8\"><sup>[8]</sup></a> a day;\r\nand on this scanty pittance he subsisted, leading for many years\r\na life of the greatest asceticism and devotion to study. After a\r\nday of labour in the school, he used to devote the greater part\r\nof the night to the investigation of Scripture, sleeping on the\r\nbare ground, and keeping frequent fasts. He carried out literally\r\nthe command of the Saviour, not to possess two coats, or to\r\nwear shoes, and consummated his work of mortification of the\r\nflesh by an act of self-mutilation, springing from a perverted\r\ninterpretation of our Lord’s words in <abbr title=\"Matthew\">Matt.</abbr> <abbr title=\"nineteen\">xix.</abbr> 12, and undertaken\r\n<span class=\"pageno\" id=\"Page_xxvi\">xxvi</span>from a desire to place himself beyond the reach of\r\ntemptation in the intercourse which he necessarily had to hold\r\nwith his youthful female catechumens.<a id=\"r9\"></a><a class=\"c008 pginternal\" href=\"#f9\"><sup>[9]</sup></a> This act was destined\r\nto exercise a baneful influence upon his future fortunes in the\r\nChurch.</p>","headings":["The writings of Origen, Vol. 2 of 2","LIFE OF ORIGEN."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg70693-paragraph-23"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"f1ed2062db04a5c99f20fef7ed9478b1c6cb68b0501e2622a2f467cf6ca71fc5","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-f9","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":"f9","source_ebook":70693,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f9\">\n<p class=\"c007\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r9\">9</a>. </span>For a full discussion of the doubts which have been thrown upon the\r\ncredibility of Eusebius in this matter by Schnitzer and Baur, <abbr class=\"spell\">cf.</abbr> Redepenning,\r\n<i>Origenes</i>, <abbr title=\"volume\">vol.</abbr> <abbr title=\"one\">i.</abbr> <abbr title=\"pages\">pp.</abbr> 444-458, and Hefele, <span lang=\"de\"><i>Encyclopaedie der\r\nKatholischen Theologie</i></span>, <abbr class=\"spell\"><i>s.v.</i></abbr> Origenes.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"76ed9a9fd752c1d5095189e38fe3dcbbea0fd23d6be719db17360e4da14552fa","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/70693/pg70693-images.html#f9","text_sha256":"d99e2c4c9e88eecb6df1c6218ef76b15473bb215c29f5b2959a37d577ca7dd19","verified":false,"work_id":null}