Editing Origen (section)

==Overview==
Origen sought [[martyr]]dom with his father at a young age but was prevented from turning himself in to the authorities by his mother. When he was eighteen years old, Origen became a [[Catechesis|catechist]] at the {{lang|la|Didascalium}} or [[School of Alexandria]]. He devoted himself to his studies and adopted an ascetic lifestyle. He came into conflict with [[Pope Demetrius I of Alexandria|Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria]], in 231 after he was [[ordination|ordained]] as a [[presbyter]] by his friend Theoclistus, the [[bishop of Caesarea]], while on a journey to Athens through Palestine. Demetrius condemned Origen for insubordination and accused him of having [[castration|castrated]] himself and of having taught that even [[Satan]] would eventually attain salvation, an accusation which Origen vehemently denied.{{sfn|McGuckin|2004|p=15}}{{sfn|Olson|1999|p=105}} 

Origen founded the Christian School of Caesarea, where he taught [[logic]], [[cosmology]], [[natural history]], and theology, and became regarded by the churches of [[Syria Palaestina|Palestine]] and [[Arabia Petraea|Arabia]] as the ultimate authority on all matters of theology. He was [[Confessor of the Faith|tortured for his faith]] during the [[Decian persecution]] in 250 and died three to four years later from his injuries.

Origen produced a massive quantity of writings because of the patronage of his close friend [[Ambrose of Alexandria]], who provided him with a team of secretaries to copy his works, making him one of the most prolific writers in [[late antiquity]]. His treatise ''[[On the First Principles]]'' systematically laid out the principles of Christian theology and became the foundation for later theological writings.{{sfn|Olson|1999|p=102}} He also authored {{lang|la|[[Contra Celsum]]}}, the most influential work of early Christian apologetics,{{sfn|Olson|1999|p=101}} in which he defended Christianity against the pagan philosopher [[Celsus]], one of [[Criticism of Christianity|its foremost early critics]]. Origen produced the {{translit|grc|[[Hexapla]]}}, the first critical edition of the Hebrew Bible, which contained the original Hebrew text, four different Greek translations, and a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew, all written in columns, side by side. 

He wrote hundreds of sermons covering almost the entire [[Bible]], [[Allegorical interpretation of the Bible|interpreting many passages as allegorical]]. Origen taught that, before the [[Pre-existence|creation of the material universe]], God had created the souls of all intelligent beings. These souls, at first fully devoted to God, fell away from him and were given physical bodies. Origen was the first to propose the [[ransom theory of atonement]] in its fully developed form, and he also significantly contributed to the development of the concept of the [[Trinity]]. Origen hoped that [[universal reconciliation|all people might eventually attain salvation]] but was always careful to maintain that this was only speculation. He defended [[free will]] and advocated [[Christian pacifism]].

Origen is considered by some Christian groups to be a [[Church Father]].{{sfn|Grafton|2011|p=222}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Runia|first1=David T.|title=Philo and the Church Fathers: A Collection of Papers|date=1995|publisher=E. J. Brill|location=Leiden, Germany|isbn=978-90-04-10355-9|page=118|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3JyM1kul504C&q=Origen|access-date=2020-11-18|archive-date=2021-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107204455/https://books.google.com/books?id=3JyM1kul504C&q=Origen|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Pope Benedict XVI|2007|pp=24–27}}<ref>{{cite book|last1=Litfin|first1=Bryan M.|title=Getting to Know the Church Fathers: An Evangelical Introduction|date=2016|orig-year=2007|publisher=Baker Academic|location=Grand Rapids, Michigan|isbn=978-1-4934-0478-0|page=unpaginated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9RdGDAAAQBAJ&q=Origen+of+Alexandria+Church+Father&pg=PT124|access-date=2020-11-18|archive-date=2021-11-07|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211107204455/https://books.google.com/books?id=9RdGDAAAQBAJ&q=Origen+of+Alexandria+Church+Father&pg=PT124|url-status=live}}</ref> He is widely regarded as one of the most influential Christian theologians.{{sfn|Olson|1999|p=99}} His teachings were especially influential in the east, with [[Athanasius of Alexandria]] and the three [[Cappadocian Fathers]] being among his most devoted followers.{{sfn|Olson|1999|p=100}} Argument over the orthodoxy of Origen's teachings spawned the [[Origenist crises|First Origenist Crisis]] in the late fourth century, in which he was attacked by [[Epiphanius of Salamis]] and [[Jerome]] but defended by [[Tyrannius Rufinus]] and [[John II, Bishop of Jerusalem|John of Jerusalem]]. In 543, Emperor [[Justinian I]] condemned him as a heretic and ordered all his writings to be burned. The [[Second Council of Constantinople]] in 553 may have [[anathema]]tized Origen, or it may have only condemned certain heretical teachings which claimed to be derived from Origen. The Church rejected his teachings on the pre-existence of souls.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The salvation of Satan|first=C.&nbsp;A.|last=Patrides|author-link=Constantinos Patrides|journal=Journal of the History of Ideas|volume=28|date=October–December 1967|pages=467–478|jstor=2708524|issue=4 |doi=10.2307/2708524}}</ref>