Apr 03 2007
I’m Origen
THE WAY OF THE FATHERS Website has a test you can take to determine which early Church Father you are most like. Me? I’m most like Origen, a brilliant thinker. This was my first indication that something was wrong. Origen was also a self-made eunuch (yikes!) who suffered hideous tortures at the hands of pagans (yikes!) and who was condemned as a heretic after his death. Maybe I should go back to the site and take that test again.
UPDATE: I took the test again and came up with Tertullian, another heretic!
-Origen was also a self-made eunuch-
Actually, I used to believe this was gospel truth but have sinc read that this is not necessarily a true story and may have been invented by enemies after his death.
-and who was condemned as a heretic after his death.-
He was, basically, bad-mouthed and lambasted but the charge of heresy did not stick. He is actually in the office of readings in the liturgy of the hours in a couple places (But not as a canonized saint, of course).
I have a soft spot for Origen because he made some wild speculations (a form of universal salvation among them) but he always said that the church was always right and that if the Church ever said anything he wrote was not true then his writings should be destroyed. That is Catholic.
What do those two have in Common, ah …heretic. YOu a heretic, I don’t think so. The test is most definitely erroneous. I’m a Melito of Sardis, any relation to Melitta. SInce I love coffee that would make sense. LOL
I should have given you a M/N on my site but I forgot and will add it now.
My remarks were mostly tongue in cheek about Origin. He had his enemies and his defenders and it’s hard to tell what is fair and accurate and what is not. If we possessed more of his writings we might be in a better position to judge. I too have a soft spot for him due to some stuff of his I’ve read in our parish library.
Also, there is a debate raging concerning whether or not Tertullian died a heretic.