Read the _Defence of Origen_[600] by Pamphilus the martyr and
Eusebius.[600] It is in six books, five of which were written by
Pamphilus when in prison in the company of Eusebius. The sixth is the
work of Eusebius alone, after the martyr, having been deprived of
life by the sword, was removed to God for whom his soul longed. Many
other distinguished persons at that time also wrote in defence of
Origen. It is said that Origen, during the persecutions in the reign
of Severus, wrote to his father Leonides, urging him to martyrdom,
and that he ran nobly in the race and received the crown. It is
added that Origen himself made ready with all zeal to enter into the
same struggle, but that his mother checked his ardour in spite of
his protestations, as he himself testifies in a letter. Pamphilus
the martyr and many others who have written an accurate account of
Origen, as given by those who knew him, assert that he quitted this
life by a glorious martyrdom at Caesarea during the cruel persecution
of the Christians by the emperor Decius.[601] Others say that he
lived till the times of Gallus[602] and Volusianus, and that he died
at Tyre in the sixty-ninth year of his age and was buried there.
This is the truer account, unless the letters supposed to have been
written by him after the Decian persecution are spurious. They say
that he studied and taught every branch of knowledge. He is said to
have been also called Adamantius, because his arguments were linked
together like chains of adamant. He attended the lectures of Clement,
the author of the _Stromateis_, and succeeded him as head of the
catechetical school at Alexandria. It is said that Clement was the
pupil of Pantaenus and his successor as head of his school, and that
Pantaenus heard teachers who had seen the apostles, and had even
heard them himself.
It is said that the movement against Origen originated as follows.
Demetrius, bishop of Alexandria, had a high opinion of Origen and
admitted him to his intimate friendship. But when Origen was about
to leave for Athens without the permission of the bishop, he was
ordained by Theotecnus, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine, contrary
to the rule of the Church, with the approval of Alexander, bishop
of Jerusalem. This incident changed the love of Demetrius to hate
and his praise to blame. A synod of bishops and some presbyters was
summoned to condemn Origen. According to Pamphilus, it was decided
that he must not remain in Alexandria or teach there, but that
he should be allowed to retain his priesthood. But Demetrius and
some Egyptian bishops, with the assent of those who had formerly
supported him, also deprived him of his sacred office. After he had
been banished from Alexandria, Theotecnus, bishop of Caesarea in
Palestine, welcomed him, allowed him to live at Caesarea, and gave
him permission to preach. Such are the reasons which Pamphilus gives
for the attack upon Origen.
The _Apology for Origen_ was composed, as we have said, by Pamphilus
when imprisoned together with Eusebius, and addressed to those who
were condemned to the mines for the sake of Christ, the chief of whom
was Patermythius, who shortly after the death of Pamphilus ended his
life at the stake with others. Pierius was the teacher of Pamphilus,
the head of the catechetical school at Alexandria. It is said that
he suffered martyrdom together with his brother Isidore, and that a
church and houses of prayer were built in his honour at Alexandria.
The holy Pamphilus was a presbyter, and is said to have copied most
of Origen’s commentaries on Scripture with his own hand.