Origen

Origen
185- 254 A.D.

Origen  was born in Alexandria, Egypt.  He is credited with qualities of piety, integrity,  great knowledge and having an impact on future teachings of the Church.  He had a depth of knowledge in the Scrip­tures, Hebrew and Greek languages, philoso­phy, heathen literature, mathe­matics, rhetoric and music. 

Origen studied Grecian philosophy under the guidance of Ammo­nius Saccas (a Neo-Platonist) in the company of Plotinus.  His teach­ings reflect his Platonistic background and this is considered one of his weaknesses as described in the following quotation: 

His leaning to idealism, his predilection [1] for Plato, and his noble effort to reconcile Christianity with rea­son, and to commend it even to educated hea­thens and Gnostics[2] led him into many grand and  fascinat­ing errors. [3]

Later in life he opened a philosophical and theo­logical school of his own in Caesarea.  Respect was granted to him by Christians and pagans alike.

“Before Origen, there existed no system of Christian doctrine.”He believed that Jesus was subordinate to the Father, and the Spirit was subor­dinate to the Son.  This subordination progressively lead to Ari­anism which was later linked to the teach­ings of Origen. [4

Origen’s greatest service was in exegesis. He is fa­ther of the critical inves­tigation of Scripture, and his commentaries are still useful to scholars for their suggestiveness. [5]

[1] Definition:  a bias in favor of something

[2] Definition:  a doctrine believing to possess a higher or superior spiritual knowledge.

[3] Schaff, Volume II, p.791

[4]  McClintock and Strong, VolumeVII, pp. 429-435.

[5] Schaff, Volume II, p. 792