An English translation of the Philocalia of Origen is now online.
This is a selection of pieces from the works of Origen (many now lost) made by St. Gregory Nazianzen and St. Basil the Great. Mostly it's about scripture, and scripture interpretation.

It can be found at http://www.tertullian.org/fathers

The text is public domain, so do whatever you like with it. I'd be
honoured if people take copies and put all, or some of it on their
websites. Errata are welcome, of course: http://www.tertullian.org/feedback.htm

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Is that different from the Philokalia? I would presume not, but I thought that the Philokalia was written by a variety of Christian Orthodox elders over a period of more than 10 centuries.

However, I happily admit to not being well up on the writings of Origen, so set me straight on this :)

Oh my husband is taking a Church history class, he will like t hear about this.

Is that different from the Philokalia? I would presume not, but I thought that the Philokalia was written by a variety of Christian Orthodox elders over a period of more than 10 centuries.

You mean the modern compilation of that name, translated by Kallistos Ware? That is indeed a different work, available at Amazon.

The word 'philocalia' -- love of the beautiful -- indicates an anthology. I expect there are several! The Philocalia of Origen is an anthology of passages from Origen, compiled by St. Basil and St. Gregory.

Most of the works of Origen were lost as a consequence of the Origenist disputes which kicked off ca. 400AD, and lasted until the condemnation of the Origenist party, and Origen himself, ca. 550. In reality his views simply became an excuse for in-fighting. The Roman empire was a despotism, and no political dissent was allowed. However a certain amount of religious dispute was permitted; with the inevitable result that every dispute clothed itself as some pseudo-theological issue. No-one in the West accepts any council later than Chalcedon (450), and I sometimes doubt we'd accept Chalcedon either if Pope Leo hadn't written a letter to the Council, in which his view was the same as that of the Chalcedonian party. It would be hard to reject a council that supported an ex cathedra definition.

Some of Origen's P. is really quite interesting. Some of his ideas on scripture seem a bit odd; but then he worked as a philosophy teacher for his day-job, and some of his work drifted into his theology.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Oh my husband is taking a Church history class, he will like to hear about this.

I'm glad these things are useful.

While editing the Tertullian Project, I kept coming across out-of-copyright English translations of the Fathers which were not online. After a while, I thought I ought to shove them online. I can locate these things, to which few even in major research libraries have access, and so it's my little contribution to learning.

Next up will be Irenaeus, Proof of the Apostolic Preaching. This was found in two Armenian manuscripts, ca. 1900, and is really good on the Trinity.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Thank you for your answer, Roger, which was thorough and interesting. I had been under the misapprehension that there was only one such book. The one I was thinking of is the compilation of church fathers and saints revered by the Eastern Orthodox church; i.e. Gregory, Ignatius, Nicephorus... I'll definitely read the Origen Philocalia.

I don't know whose translation I read although I would probably have remembered a name like Kallistos Ware! It was a long time ago...

Regarding Origen:

Some of his ideas on scripture seem a bit odd;...

I'll say! But no one can argue that he didn't have the strength of his convictions...

I don't know whose translation I read although I would probably have remembered a name like Kallistos Ware! It was a long time ago...

Fr. Kallistos has been around a while. I remember him preaching in my college chapel ca. 1981, and giving an excellent sermon on the Lord's Prayer. This was actually a retread of patristic ideas, I later found. He was born Timothy Ware, and converted to Eastern Orthodoxy, and is an important figure in UK orthodoxy, I believe.

Origen was tortured during the Decian persecution, and died soon after from his injuries. He was clearly a Christian -- he isn't trying to bring paganism into the church, but to use whatever he can find to evangelise the world.

So, if we see whether he was outside p**ing in, or inside p**ing out, he was plainly the latter.

I have just read a celebratory history of the evangelical theology college, Oak Hill, in the UK, which was extraordinarily depressing because it made it quite plain that those in charge of the college had allowed themselves to be threatened and cajoled by the establishment into abandoning the centrality of scripture; and didn't realise it. It reminded me strongly of a history of the Student Christian Movement, the SCM, written by Tissington Tatlow, its president, ca. 1936 which showed exactly the same error. It was a massive volume, 600 pages upbeat, obsessed with administration and leaving God on the sidelines, unaware of the imminent collapse. A miserable 3 pages covered the way in which the Cambridge CU had been forced to leave, deriding them as obscurantist: these were the people who had founded the SCM, and who remained faithful and are still bringing the gospel to the university. The Oak Hill book was eerily similar, even to the same dismissal of the few faithful in brief paragraphs. The failure to learn is *so* depressing.

Some of Origen's judgements may have been wrong, as with us all, but his intentions were plainly correct.

All the best,

Roger Pearse

Roger

Origen was tortured during the Decian persecution, and died soon after from his injuries. He was clearly a Christian -- he isn't trying to bring paganism into the church, but to use whatever he can find to evangelise the world.

Not trying to suggest that Origen was a covert pagan, although from what I recall he was somewhat unorthodox. I was rather thinking of his Skoptsi tendency.

Ouch.