Origen's Life

Origen was born in 185 AD and died in 254 AD at the age of 69. He originally lived in Alexandria where his father was martyred during the Christian persecutions. Origen himself nearly cut his life short by trying to become a martyr with his father. He would visit the prisons to comfort those about to be killed, and stand by the roads to the execution saluting those who passed. Indeed, it is said that at one point his mother had to hide his clothes in order to stop Origen from going to his doom. Origen eventually took over the tutelage of Clement's old school, and taught religion and secular subjects for some time. Some time later, he decided to devote himself to the teachings of Christ and sold his entire library to give himself enough to live off of. Origen supposedly wrote thousands of works during his life of which only a few survive. He traveled to Caesarea and Italy several times, and it was on one of his trips to Caesarea that he ran into trouble. Having formerly been admonished for preaching without being a priest, Origen was accepted into the priesthood while in Caesarea. However, Demetrius who was at that time bishop of Alexandria was infuriated thinking that his authority over the Alexandrian priesthood had been compromised. He managed to have Origen forbidden from preaching in Alexandria ever again, and the somewhat disappointed Origen relocated to Caesarea where he spent the rest of his life.