The Text of Acts of the Apostles in the Writings of Origen [1 ed.] 9042941464, 9789042941465, 9789042941472

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STUDIA PATRISTICA SUPPLEMENT 9

The Text of Acts of the Apostles in the Writings of Origen by

STANLEY N. HELTON

PEETERS

2022

THE TEXT OF ACTS OF THE APOSTLES IN THE WRITINGS OF ORIGEN

STUDIA PATRISTICA SUPPLEMENTS

edited by Allen Brent and Markus Vinzent

STUDIA PATRISTICA SUPPLEMENT 9

The Text of Acts of the Apostles in the Writings of Origen by STANLEY N. HELTON

PEETERS LEUVEN - PARIS - BRISTOL, CT

2022

© Peeters Publishers -

Louvain -

Belgium 2022

All rights reserved, including the right to translate or to reproduce this book or parts thereof in any form.

D/2022/0602/37 ISBN: 978-90-429-4146-5 eISBN: 978-90-429-4147-2 A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

Printed in Belgium by Peeters, Leuven

To Pat As Ambrose provided for all Origen's needs, you have made my work possible.

Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... ...

Xl

LIST OF TABLES. ... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... ...

Xlli

ABBREVIATIONS ..................................... .................................. ........... ..........

XV

INTRODUCTION...................... .......... ....... .... ....... ...... ........... ...... .... ....... ..........

1

CHAPTER 1: ORIGEN IN CONTEXT .. .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... .........

5

Sources for Origen's Life ................................ .................................. .... Reconstructions of Origen' s Life ...................................................... .. .. Origen as Philologist ............................................................................. A Brief History of Origen and His Books .................................. .......... Summary ...................................................................................... .......... ADDENDUM: Textual Basis of Origen's Greek Writings.......................

5 7 10 15 31 33

CHAPTER 2: STATE OF RESEARCH ........................ .. ......... .. ...................... .. ..

47

Early Textual Critics and Origen .......................................................... Quest for Origen's Text of the NT................................... ........... ...... .... Quest for the Earliest Form of the Text of Acts ........ ...... ........... ...... .... The Quest for Origen's Text of Acts.......................... ...........................

47 48 58 61

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGy.... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... .. .. ... ... .... ... .. .. ... ......

65

The Challenge of the Fathers' Citations ............................................... Gathering and Presenting the Evidence ................................................ Analyzing and Evaluating the Evidence .......................... ........... .......... Significant Variation Units.................................................................... Summary. .... ... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ......

65 65 71 76 80

CHAPTER 4: ORIGEN'S TEXT OF ACTS ..................................................... .. ..

81

Origen's Text of Acts from Alexandria with Apparatus....................... Origen's Composite Text of Acts................................................ .......... Critical Apparatus on Origen's Text of Acts ......................................... Acts 1 ...................................................................... ........................... Acts 2 ........................................................... .......... .. .......................... Acts 3 ........................ .. ................................ .. ......... .. ...................... .... Acts 4.................................................................................................

82 96 101 101 105 113 114

Table of Contents

YIn

Acts 5 ................................................................................................. Acts 7................................................................................................. Acts 8............. ...... ........... ...... ........... ................. ................. ................ Acts 9............. ...... ........... ...... ........... ................. ................. ................ Acts 10............................................................................................... Acts 11 ............................................................................................... Acts 12................. ........... ...... .... ....... ................. .......... ....... ................ Acts 13................. ........... ...... .... ....... ................. .......... ....... ................ Acts 14............................ .................................. ................................. Acts 16............................ .................................. ................................. Acts 17 ................. ........... .................................. ................................. Acts 19............................................................................................... Acts 20............................................................................................... Acts 21........... ....................... ........... .................................. ................ Acts 22............................................................................................... Acts 23............................................................................................... Quantitative Analysis Tables................................................................. CHAP1ER 5: REsULTS

118 127 134 135 137 145 147 149 153 153 156 158 160 161

164 165 167

ANALYSIS ..........................................................

187

Results from the Quantitative Analysis................................................. Textual Commentary on the Critical Apparatus ................................... Textual Commentary on Origen' s Composite Text of Acts .................

187 193 195

CONCLUSION.................................... ........... ................. ................. ................

199

The Hypothesis Revisited ...................................................................... The Importance of this Study ................................................ ................ Origen' s Acts among the Greek Fathers ............................... ................

199 200 201

APPENDIX: COMPLE1E DATA SET............................... .................................

203

Sigla and Critical Markings................................................................... The Title of Acts .. .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ..... Acts 1............................................... ................. .......... ....... ................ Acts 2............. ...... ........... ...... .... ....... ................. .......... ....... ................ Acts 3................................................................................................. Acts 4................... ........... .................................. ................................. Acts 5................... ........... .................................. ................................. Acts 6................................................................................................. Acts 7................................................................................................. Acts 8............. ....................... ........... .................................. ................ Acts 9............. ....................... ........... .................................. ................

203 204 205 214

AND

228 233 240 248 249 259 267

Table of Contents

Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts Acts

IX

10............................................................................................... 11 ............................................................................................... 12........................................ ................. ........... ...... ........... .......... 13........................................ ................. ........... ...... ........... .......... 14............................................................................................... 15............................................................................................... 16................................. ....... .... ............. ........... ...... .... ....... .......... 17 ....................... .......... ....... .... ............. ........... ...... .... ....... .......... 18......................................................... ........... ........................... 19......................................................... ........... ........................... 20....................... .................................. ........... ........................... 21............................................................................................... 22............................................................................................... 23........................................ .................................. ........... .......... 24........................................ .................................. ........... .......... 25............................................................................................... 26............................................................................................... 27....................... ................. ................. ........... ...... ........... .......... 28...............................................................................................

274 291 295 298 305 305 310 314 318 320 323 324 329 331 333 333 333 334 334

BIBLIOGRAPHy..............................................................................................

337

Important Series ..................................................................................... Critical Texts of Origen's Writings....................................................... Primary Sources for Origen's Life.................. ........... ...... .... ....... .......... Origen's Texts and Translations...................... ........... ........................... Related Works, Studies, and Research............ ........... ...........................

337 337 341 342 343

Acknowledgments My journey with Origen began many years ago when, as a young graduate student at Abilene Christian University (ACU), Dr, Carroll D, Osburn chose me as his graduate assistant. Carroll introduced me to the methods and tools of New Testament textual criticism and the special value the church fathers hold as witnesses of the earliest recoverable form of the New Testament This present work, I hope, shows what lowe Carroll for his introduction to and guidance within the field of textual criticism, This project originated during the time I worked for CarrolL At the 1991 meeting of SBL and AAR, Carroll arranged a lunch meeting between Gordon Fee and us. As an aspiring scholar-

to-be, I was thrilled to have this opportunity, I don't remember much of the conversation around the table, but I do remember Fee urging me not to take twenty-five years completing this work, This project has taken a bit more than Fee's limits. Multiple libraries deserve acknowledgment for services rendered. The library at the Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans made possible the collecting and double-checking of multiple sources, I am also appreciative of the John T Christian Library on the campus of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) both for resources and a quiet place to study, The Brown Library at ACU and their capable theological librarian Craig Churchill provided excellent support in gathering materials, During my early graduate school days, the Brown library acquired Lemoine Lewis's personal library, which the staff of the library made available to me, Lemoine had encountered Origen years before I came along, and his high-quality resources hastened the process of collecting citations, allusions, and echoes of Acts in Origen. Fortuitously, my first citations were gathered at ACU, and appropriately one of my final citations also came from there, Most recently, I should also mention Alberta Bible College (ABC) in Calgary, where I currently serve, and ABC's librarian, Darcy Gullacher, who obtained a number of works needed to finish this manuscript I acknowledge my debt to Elijah Hixson who obtained a single citation from Origen's commentary on the Thessalonian correspondence that I was unable to gain without much more effort.

My profound thanks go to Dr, Bill Warren of the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, who has been a constant encourager, mentor, critic, and friend.

The Haggard Center for New Testament Textual Studies he directs provided for all of my needs related to NT manuscripts, specialized studies, and computer resources, Among those who worked with the center, special thanks go to Matt Solomon, Jesse Coyne, Megan Burnett, and Les Jensen, who provided critical technical support lowe special thanks to the First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Hammond, Louisiana, for their understanding and forbearance during the years

Xl!

Acknowledgments

2011-2014 when I was writing and editing the dissertation from which this study arises. They loved their pastor even in moments when his mind was stuck

in the third century. Among my denominational leaders, I wish to acknowledge the positive encouragement, both academic and pastoral, from Dr. Michael Elmore, retired Regional Minister, and Rev. Barbara Jones , the Executive Regional Minister of the Great River Region of the Disciples of Christ at that time.

Others who deserve mention include Tracy Bartel who helped resolve some formatting issues with word processing and former student of mine, Michael

Coghlin, who read the MSS and offered suggestions and corrections to the the text and footnotes. Additionally, I thank Shannon Gugyel, David Ford, Katie Reid and especially Sarai Emmanuel for bringing this manuscript to completion. No doubt I have missed people who have been part of this journey, but I want all to know how much I understand that this work could only have been possible with your assistance and support.

My wife, Pat, and our now married daughter, Rachel, have lived with Origen for about as long as I have. They have endured times when I was not as present

as they might have wished. Thanks for your love and support through the years. Without doubt, my wife's support created the 'space' necessary to do this work. For that reason, this work is dedicated to her.

List of Tables Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table Table

1. Relationships among the Control Witnesses ............................... 2. Significant Variants among the Control Witnesses ................ .... 3. Primary Alexandrian Control Group Compared .... ... .... ... ...... .... 4. Secondary Alexandrian Control Group Compared. ... .... ... .... ...... 5. Western Control Group Compared.............................................. 6. Byzantine Control Group Compared........................................... 7. MSS 03 and 69 Compared. .... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ... ....... ...... 8. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 1-28) .................. .......... 9. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 1-28)...................... 10. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 1-12) .......................... 11. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 1-12) ................... 12. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 13-28) ........................ 13. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 13-28) ....... .... ...... 14. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 1) ................................ 15. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 1) ......................... 16. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 5) ...................... .......... 17. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 5) ......................... 18. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 7) ... ... ... .... ... .... ... ... ...... 19. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 7) ......................... 20. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 10) .................... .......... 21. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 10) ............. .......... 22. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 16) .............................. 23. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 16) ....................... 24. Agreement among All Witnesses (Acts 21) .................... .... ...... 25. Significant Variants in All Witnesses (Acts 21) ............. .......... 26. Standard Deviation in Acts 1-28. ... ... .... ... .... ... .... ... ... .... ... .... ..... 27. Origen's Acts Compared to Control Group ............................... 28. Comparison of 03 to All Other Witnesses................................ 29. Comparison of MS 1739 to Other Witnesses ............ ...............

72 73 74 74 75 75 76 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 188 189 190 191

Abbreviations For abbreviations of journals and series, I have followed the abbreviations recommended in the second edition of the SBL Handbook of Style. For Origen's works, the abbreviations have been adopted from Biblia Patristica and the Society of Biblical Literature New Testament in the Greek Fathers series. For other ancient works, abbreviations come from Lampe's Patristic Lexicon or Liddell-Scott's Greek-English Lexicon.

The ultimate goal is a carefully evaluated presentation of all available Greek patristic evidence, which in turn can find its way, also with careful evaluation, into both the apparatuses of our critical editions and studies of the history of transmission. 1 - Gordon D. Fee and Roderic L. Mullen-

Introduction Hans Vrs von Balthasar aptly compared the impact of Origen's influence on subsequent history through two striking metaphors, both apropos to the text critical task taken up in this study 2 On the one hand, Origen's legacy (embodied in his extant works) might be compared to a container of beautifully scented perfume that has been shattered on the floor, releasing its fragrance throughout the house. The sweet scent penneates the rooms, but its exact source is imperceptible. Joseph T. Lienhard fittingly applied this metaphor to Thomas P. Scheck's Origen and the History of Justification: The Legacy of Origen's Commentary on Romans, and rightly so, since Origen's doctrine of justification continues to infonn Christian theology today, even when theologians are llllaware. 3 On the other hand, the remains of Origen' s erudition might be compared to a crashed aircraft with 'twisted pieces of metal strewn randomly about a forest or field'4 In the case of the present research, this catastrophic image, which Lienhard called sad, is the more fitting analogy. The current state of Origen's writings is more like a wrecked aircraft: some pieces are lost all together, others are strewn across the field, and yet others are twisted in ways the original designer never intended. 5 Worse yet, various pieces of the wreckage have fallen 1 G.D. Fee and RL. Mullen, 'The Use of the Greek Fathers for NT Textual Criticism', in B.D. Ehrman and M.W. Holmes (eds), The Text of the New Testament in Contemporary Research: Essay on the Status Quaestionis (2013), 356. 2 On Origen's impact on the subsequent study of the New Testament, see RM. Berchman, 'In the Shadow of Origen: Porphyry and the Patristic Origins of New Testament Criticism', in G. Dorival and A. Le Boulluec, Origeniana Sexta: Origen and the Bible (1995), 658-73. Several articles in Origeniana Sexta trace the thoroughgoing influence of Origen on Beza, Erasmus, Luther, and others. 3 H.U. von Balthasar (ed.), Origen: Spirit and Fire: A Thematic Anthology of His Writings (1984),1-2: T.P. Scheck, Origen and the History of Justification: The Legacy ofOrigen's Commentary on Romans (2008), foreword by J.T. Lienhard (vii). G. Dorival, 'Origen', in J. Carleton Paget and J. Schaper (eels), The New Cambridge History of the Bible (2013), I 626-8. 4 T.P. Scheck, Origen and the History of Justification (2008), vii. 5 Rufinus in his overzealous defense of Origen in Falsification of the Books of Origen (Adult. 10-3; see Jerome, Rut 42--4) accused heretics for having deleted text from or interpolated text into Origen's writings. These changes, for Rufinus, account for any unorthodox statements or

2

Introduction

across international lines, thus requiring difficult collaboration between languages and cultures. The 'pieces' of Origen' s extant writings include his commentaries, homilies, topical pieces, apologetic works, and scattered scholia and catenae. Reconstituting the Origenian COlpUS is even more difficult, because some works have been mislabeled as belonging to others 6 Much of what was written originally in Greek is gone, but fortunately Latin translations of some of these lost works have survived - and, thus, the analogy of parts falling across international lines. However, these translations are rarely equivalent to the lost originals and must be used with great care. 7 Despite the later condemnation of Origen as a heretic that resulted in the destruction of some works,s an impressive number of works have survived. 9 The metaphor of an aiIplane wreck can be extended to include the investigation following such an event. To ascertain what happened, trained investigators arrive on the scene to begin the painstaking task of separating the mangled wreckage and cataloguing every item piece by piece, then laying them schematically side by side. The purpose of such an investigation is to detennine, as far as the evidence allows, what created the current state of the wreckage. Something akin to the analogy of the accident investigation is involved in recovering the text of Acts of the Apostles from the writings of Origen. Painstakingly every citation and allusion to Acts in Origen' s mangled mass of writings must be located and labeled while not losing sight of where in the Origenian cOIpus each piece originally belonged. Not every text discovered is useful in providing answers to the questions raised in this study; nonetheless, every text that might inform that task - if the work is to be thorough - must be located, even if later assigned to a holding area or deemed inconsequential. contradictions in Origen's writings. Though Rufinus overstated the case, these kinds of scribal changes did happen. Even within his lifetime, Origen complained about conuptions of his writings as reported in a letter Rufinus preserved (Adult. 7; see also Jerome, Rut 2.18). Textual critics should be mindful that textual alteration is a possibility within the history of transmission of Origen's writings. 6 An example of a mislabelled manuscript is the recent discovery of some of Origen 's homilies on Psalms, now published as L. Perrone (ed.), Origenes: The New Homilies on Psalms: A Critical Edition of Codex Monacensis Graecus 314, GCS ns 19 (2015). 7 B.F. Westcott and FJ.A. Hort, Introduction to the New Testament in the Original Greek (1882), 160-1, noted that Jerome's translations of Origen are more reliable - from a text-critical point of view - than Rufinus's translations. 8 See R.P. Moroziuk, 'Origen and the Nicene Orthodoxy', in Origeniana Quinta (1992), 488-

93. 9 Epiphanius, Pan. 64.63, perhaps in hyperbole , stated that Origen has produced six thousand works. See also Rufinus, Adult. 15; Jerome, Ruf 2.22. B.F. Westcott and FJ.A. Hort, Introduction to the New Testament (1882), 88, lamented so little of Origen's work has survived. M.H. Williams, The Monk and the Book: Jerome and the Making of Christian Scholarship (2006), 14, noted: 'Little of Origen's massive exegetical oeuvre survives, but there is enough to make clear that he took up all of these methods in tum'.

Introduction

3

Much as an aircraft investigation seeks to answer the question concerning what happened, this research has a clear aim, First, the purpose of the research is to analyze and evaluate the text of Acts of the Apostles as preserved in Origen's writings to determine the text or texts of Acts known to him, Parallel to the purpose, the thesis of this research is that such an analysis and evaluation of Origen' s citations of and allusions to Acts can provide the basis for reconstructing and analyzing Origen's text of Acts and thereby locate his text of Acts within the history of the transmission of the NT Finally, my working hypothesis at the outset of this research was that such an analysis and evaluation should confirm that Origen's text of Acts is most akin to the text found in MS 1739 with some intennittent Western readings and a few Byzantine readings. lO As with the investigation of a mysterious plane crash, not only is procedure extremely important to return certain and valid results (see chapter 3 on methodology), but also the presentation of the report requires clear logical steps, Likewise, the presentation of this study takes the following steps, The first chapter begins with Origen himself, Reconstructing a history of Origen's life is essential for placing this research within its proper historical context. The best historical work on Origen, therefore, has been applied to this task, In this first chapter, the sources and scholarly concerns about those sources are examined before presenting a cursory history of Origen's life, This brief history focuses on Origen's relationship to his books and his MSS, Careful attention is given to Origen's own production of books, particularly those that give substantial materials for the present research. The first chapter ends with an addendum discussing the textual basis of Origen's Greek writings from which a reconstruction of Origen's text of Acts hangs. Chapter 2 explores Origen through the eyes of modern textual critics and presents the state of research regarding, first, the quest for Origen's text of the NT, and second, a more focused concentration on the quest for Origen's text of Acts, In the context of this latter focus on the quest for Origen's text of Acts, a summary on the current state of research on the text of Acts up to the recent publication of the Editio Critica Maior volumes on Acts will be presented,l1 The methodology employed in this research project is the focus of chapter 3, That methodology follows closely the state of research reported in chapter 2, because the methodology was developed and refined within the context of the historical developments covered in the state of research. The text-critical methodology used here has been developed and refined by such notable scholars as

10 This hypothesis arose from the hypotheses of earlier scholars who suspected that some relationship between Origen and MS 1739 existed. The importance of 1739 to the study of the text of Acts and Origen will be explained in the next chapter. 11 The Acts of the Apostles, Novum Testamentum Graecum Editio Critica Maior (2017). The work is divided into Part 1.1, Text, Chapter 1-14; Part 1.2, Text, Chapter 15-28; Part 2, Supplementary Material; and Part 3, Studies.

4

Introduction

Ernst Colwell, Gordon Fee, and Bart Ehrman, Perhaps the most influential here is Fee, who worked out a clear procedure for gathering, presenting, evaluating, and using the evidence for the NT text from the church fathers, This chapter ends with a list of the significant variation units from Origen's text of Acts to fund the quantitiative analysis (QA) used to compare Origen's text of Acts with the MSS of Acts, In chapter 4 the Greek data for the reconstruction of Origen's text of Acts is presented, This chapter offers a reconstituted text of Origen' s Acts olthe Apostles extracted from the relevant Greek data, First, we look at the state of Origen's text of Acts as he knew it in Alexandria and then at a composite text of Origen' s text of Acts as he knew it over his lifetime, Next follows a full textual apparatus (both for Alexandria and then for Origen's text of Acts) comparing Origen's text against specific NT MSS included in the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary's Haggard Center for New Testament Textual Studies Critical Apparatus, The QA tables can be found at the end of this chapter for the discussion of the results found in the final chapter, Chapter 5 presents the analysis and results from the Quantitative Analysis (QA) used to compare Origen's text of Acts against the various representative MSS of known textual affinities, To a degree, the quantity and nature of the data control the information included here, This chapter is followed by summation, textual commentary, reflections, and final remarks in a concluding chapter. This concluding chapter sums up the findings of this study and fhen compares those findings with studies on other fathers' text of Acts, Here we find that Origen fits where we might expect his text of Acts to fit in the history of transmission of the text of Acts. At the end of this study, an appendix comprises the complete data used in this research, The bibliography lists the critical texts, translations, the sources for the reconstruction of Origen's life, and additional research pertinent to this project

Chapter 1

Origen in Context Text-critical studies of Origen's text of the NT generally include a section on Origen's life, and naturally so, since the context of Origen's life provides the essential background for understanding his work with NT texts and MSS.l This first chapter surveys Origen's life, particularly noting his collection, use, and study of NT MSS and other books. This perspective is taken since Origen's access to manuscripts is pertinent to his access to various textual traditions of the Acts of the Apostles. Because of Origen' s association with manuscripts, perhaps the best way to view him is as a professional lover of books, or more precisely, a grammarian (ypU)l)lUnKos) or a philologist (see below). Before recounting Origen's life, some discussion is necessary regarding the sources on which any reconstruction of Origen' s life depends. Furthennore, since recent historical scholars have challenged the reliability of Origen' s primary biographer, Eusebius, the weighing of the primary sources on which Origen's history rests is even more necessary.

Sources for Origen's Life The primary source for Origen's life remains the sixth book of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History (HE). Eusebius (ca. 260-ca. 340 C.E.) was not only heir to Origen's scholarly legacy in Caesarea Maritima but also the later curator of the library Origen created. When he wrote about Origen in his HE, he possessed about a hundred of Origen' s letters, a number of official documents, and personal interviews with people who had known Origen. Presumably all the previously mentioned documents resided in Origen' s library when Eusebius composed his account. 2 1 For example, B.D. Ehnnan, G.D. Fee, and M.W. Holmes, The Text of the Fourth Gospel in the Writings ofOrigen (1992), 1-9; D.D. Hannah, The Text of 1 Corinthians in the Writings of Origen (1997), 1-7. Among unpublished research, see particularly J.J. Cate, 'The Text of the Catholic Epistles and the Revelation in the Writings of Origen' (1997), 1-17; S.T. Raquel, 'The Text of the Synoptic Gospels in the Writings of Origen' (2002), 1-5; Ee. Thompson, 'The Text of the Synoptic Gospels in the Writings of Origen' (2005), 11-23; J. Anderson, 'An Analysis of the Text of the Fourth Gospel in the Writings of Origen' (2008), 1-7; and recently M.R Steinfeld, 'The Text of Romans, Second Corinthians, and Galatians in the Writings of Origen of Alexandria' (2015). 2 Eusebius, HE 6.23, 33, and esp. 36.3. Only three complete letters of Origen have survived. See E Norris, 'Origen' (2000), II 1005, who claimed that Jerome had located possibly four different collections of Origen's correspondence when Jerome was in Caesarea. A reconstruction of the contents of Origen's library in Eusebius's day has been attempted by A.J. Carriker, The Library of Eusebius of Caesarea (2003), esp., 1-32.

6

Chapter 1

Another important source for the history of Origen's life would have been Pamphilus's Apology for Origen, to which Eusebius added a sixth book 3 Pamphilus had been Origen' s successor as curator of his library and administrator of his school. Unfortunately, Pamphilus's apology has not survived except for the first book in Rufinus's Latin translation 4 A small portion of Origen's life is recounted by his renowned student Gregory Thaumaturgus, who wrote a tribute (Panegyric to Origen) to honour his teacher Origen at the end of his studies in Caesarea. Gregory's aCcOllllt provides a rare and personal glimpse of Origen as philosopher, teacher, and pastor 5 Remaining sources for Origen's life and work include Jerome's short biography in On Illustrious Men and a letter Jerome wrote to a certain Paula, which contains an impressive list of Origen's works. 6 Besides confinning some of Origen's extant works, the letter names several lost works. Others, such as Rufinus, Socrates, Porphyry, and Epiphanius, have preserved some random details of Origen's life. 7 Later sources, often dependent on those previously mentioned, include the fifth-century Lausiac History of Palladius8 and the ninth-century Bibliotheca or Myriobiblion by Photius. The latter source summarizes an anonymous apology for Origen (Cod. 117) as well as a summary of the Apology by Pamphilus and Eusebius (Cod. 118) already mentioned 9 Suidas's extensive lexicon from the tenth-century contains an entry on Origen that preserves details from works no longer extant lO Finally, William of Tyre (ca. 1180) in his History of Tyre (Hist. 13.1) provided information about Origen's death and interment in Tyrell These sources along with random details that Origen himself

Eusebius, HE 6.23. Pamphilus, Apol. Or.; F. Norris, 'Origen' (2000), II 1006-7. 5 St. Gregory Thaumaturgus: Life and Works (1998), 91-126, provides an English translation. Additionally, important for Origen's relationship to books, Gregory referred to several authors Origen cited and discussed in his cumcula. 6 Jerome, Vir. ill. 54; id. ep. 33. M.H. Williams, The Monk and the Book: Jerome and the Making of Christian Scholarship (2006), 154, counted Origen's collection of writings to be '468 homilies, excerpts on seven biblical books, and other materials totaling 38 books, including the ten books of the Miscellanies (Stromateis) and four of On First Principles, for a total of just under 800 items of widely varying length'. 7 See, for example , Rufinus, Adult. and Apol. Orig.; Socrates, HE 2.21, 4.25-7 , 6.7, 9-10 et al.; Porphyry, Christ.; Epiphanius, Pan. 64. 8 The Lausiac History of Palladius II, ed D.C Butler (1904),160, sec. 64, as cited in RE. Heine, Origen: Commentary on the Gospel of John, Books 12-32 (1993), 8, n. 27. 9 On Eusebius's now lost Life of Pamphilus, see H. Crouzel, Origen: The Life and Thought of the First Great Theologian (1989), 1. 10 Available online at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers/photius_03bibliotheca.htm; Suidas's lexicon is online at http://www.stoa.org/sol/; the 1705 Cambridge edition of the lexicon is online at http://arc hive .org/s tre am/sui daelexico ngrO 1sui d#page /n3/m ode/2up. 11 William of Tyre, Hist. 13.1; H. Wace and W.C Piercy, A Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century AD, with an Account of the Principal Sects and Heresies (1887; repr., 1994), see 'Origenes', IV 96-142. 3

4

Origen in Context

7

discloses in his extant works represent the literary remains out of which any critical history of Origen must be written and serve as the context for any history of transmission of Origen' s own writings as well as any MSS of Acts he handled.

Reconstructions of Origen's Life A few historiographical issues complicate a critical reconstruction of Origen's life. While these issues do not greatly affect our current understanding of where Origen wrote most of his surviving works, they do create some issues concerning the exact dating of his works which will be noted at appropriate places below. More significant for this study and the history and chronology of Origen is the challenge some scholars have raised against the credibility of Origen's primary biographer, Eusebius. Simply stated, these scholars argne that Eusebius's hagiographical motives prevented him from presenting an accurate history of the early church in general, and Origen specifically, without some exaggeration and embellishment. To balance that tendency, four important biographical reconstructions of Origen's life serve as samples of the current state of Origenian historiography. We begin with Origen's most important modern biographer.

Pierre Nautin's Origene Origenian scholar Robert Daley hailed Pierre Nautin's biographical study of Origen's life as a milestone in the modem revival of Origen studies.!2 Daley, in his review of Nautin's Origene, traced the precursors to Nautin's study. Notable among these scholars are Pico della Mirandola (1486), Pierre Daniel Huet (1668), E.R. Redepenning (1841-1846), Charles Bigg (1886), Adolf von Harnack (1909), Eugene de Faye (1923-1928), Walther Volker (1931), and Jean Danielou (1948), some of the most impressive Origenian scholars of all time.13 However, Nautin's exceptional study eclipsed these previous studies because he employed a source-critical approach to adjudicate among Eusebius's use of sources, thus seeking to sort fact from fiction and, if not fiction, exaggeration from the matter-of-fact truth. Nautin distingnished carefully between Eusebius's written and his oral sources. Because, according to Nautin, Eusebius was prone to 'hagiographical embellishment' of his oral sources. 14 12 P. Nautin, Origene (1977); R.J. Daly, 'Notes: Origen Studies and Pierre Nautin's Origene' (1978),508-19. 13 See R.J. Daly, 'Notes' (1978), 508-15, for others on Origen. 14 Indicated by the passive phrase 'it is reported' or equivalent (e.g., )"'6yo(, £X€l in HE 6.4.3; KU1"€X€l )"'6yo(, in HE 6.28.1). Others who take Nautin's reassessment of Eusebius's treatment of Origen even further include, e.g., P. Cox, Biography in Late Antiquity: A Quest of the Holy Man (1983), who argued Eusebius cast Origen in 'the stereotypical guise of a Hellenistic holy man' (6), while A. Grafton and M. Williams, Christianity and the Transformation of the Book (2006),

8

Chapter 1

Eusebius apparently had at least one autobiographical letter from Origen, which Origen sent from Athens to the bishop of Jerusalem in 233, Origen primarily sought in that letter to defend himself against what he claimed were false charges coming from his Alexandrian bishop Demetrius 15 Beyond this one letter, Eusebius does not seem to possess any comparable autobiographical sources for the years following 233 (around the time Origen moved to Caesarea), thus making him dependent on second-hand accounts, In distinguishing between Eusebius's written sources and his oral sources, Nautin underscored that Eusebius's goal in recounting Origen's life was not neutral; rather, Eusebius's desire to defend his hero against accusations of unorthodoxy motivated his portrayal of Origen, Nautin perceived one could extract the truth from Eusebius, but only by filtering the author's biases while attending to his sources. As Daley summed up Nautin's case, 'Eusebius remained a straightforward, almost naive, relatively transparent historian' but one who must be rescued from 'tlllgrOllllded affinnations and uncritical hagiography'.1 6

Nautin's Successors Historians coming after Nautin realized they must take Nautin's assessment of Eusebius's writing seriously, though they continued to quibble here and there about the details. Nonetheless, since Nautin's work, no one can afford to read Eusebius's accOlmt of Origen naively without due attention to Eusebius' s underlying sources and his apologetic aims. Among Nautin's successors (and detractors), three are especially helpful in placing Origen in context: Joseph W, Trigg, Henri Crouzel, and Ronald E, Heine, Trigg unabashedly endorsed Nautin's reading of Eusebius, For example, in Trigg's smaller volume on Origen, Robert M, Grant acknowledged in the foreword that Trigg followed Nautin 'much of the time',17 Trigg, in his AYBD article on Origen, agreed that he approved of most of Nautin's work 18 In an earlier and lengthier study on Origen, Trigg presented the life of Origen in a blended topical and chronological format by breaking Origen's life into nine smaller units. His final chapter reflects on Origen's achievements and legacy. 22-85, casted Origen as the Christian philosopher among his books. See also M. Hornschuh, 'Das Leben des Origenes und die Entstehung der alexandrinischen Schule' (1960), 193-214. 15 Indicated by 'as he somewhere says' (d); nou tpT]GLV eu')1"6