Apology for Origen; On the Falsification of the Books of Origen

Introduction

3 INTRODUCTION Life of St. Pamphilus of Caesarea Pamphilus of Caesarea (240?–310) was one of the most celebrated priest-martyrs of the early Church and the author of a single surviving work: the Apology for Origen. Pamphilus’s Vita was originally composed in three books by Eusebius (d. 339), the church historian and bishop of Caesarea, but it is no longer extant. There is sufficient evidence from antiquity, however, to reconstruct an outline of his life. Pamphilus came originally from a noble family of Beirut.1 After experiencing a deep religious conversion, he sold his property, gave the proceeds to the poor, and became a disciple of Pierius of Alexandria (d. 303?).2 Though Eusebius is silent about this, according to some Pierius was in charge of the catechetical school of Alexandria under the bishop Theonas, ca. A.D. 265, and afterwards lived in Rome. He wrote several treatises that were extant in Jerome’s time and are also mentioned by the Greek author and Patriarch of Constantinople, Photius (810–95). Jerome expressed the highest esteem for both Pamphilus and Pierius, calling the latter “Origen Junior”3 because of his eloquence. Jerome confirms that Pierius was a priest and teacher in Alexandria, a prac1 . This is the city where both Gregory Thaumaturgus as well as Gregory Nazianzen went to study law. Berytus and its surrounding region were described by Fergus Millar as a “unique island of Roman culture in the Near East,” thanks to the settlement there of demobilized Latin-speaking legionaries. Cited by M. Slusser, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus: Life and Works, FOTC 98, 2, n. 4. 2. Cf. Eusebius, HE 7.32; Mart. Pal. 11.1–3. Some modern scholars doubt that Pamphilus sold all his property, since Jerome does not mention this (Vir. ill. 75), and otherwise Pamphilus would not have been able to endow the library at Caesarea. 3. Cf. Jerome, Vir. ill. 76, trans. T. Halton, FOTC 100, 108; Ep. 70.4; Eusebius , HE 7.32.26–30. 4 INTRODUCTION titioner of extreme asceticism and voluntary poverty, and was knowledgeable in the art of dialectic. Photius adds the information that Pierius was orthodox in regard to the Father and the Son, but not in regard to the Holy Spirit, because he said that his glory was less than that of the Father and the Son. Photius reports that, according to some, he himself suffered martyrdom in 303 with his brother Isidore.4 After being tutored by Pierius in Alexandria, Pamphilus eventually settled in Caesarea.5 He reanimated the school founded by Origen, whose personal library was housed there. Pamphilus enlarged this library by transcribing the greater part of the works of Origen with his own hand. Many of Origen’s writings would have been lost without the care Pamphilus took in listing and collecting them. Jerome took pride in owning twentyfive volumes of Origen’s Commentary on the Twelve Minor Prophets that had been copied by the hand of Pamphilus himself. Of this martyr’s relic, Jerome said: “I embrace and hold on to [it] with such joy that I believe I am in possession of the riches of Croesus.”6 Pamphilus expanded the school of Caesarea’s influence as a seat of learning. Eusebius of Caesarea acquired his education there. (The library collected by Pamphilus was destroyed when Caesarea was taken by the Arabs in the seventh century).7 In Caesarea, Pamphilus had been ordained a priest by bishop Agapius.8 In November 307, Pamphilus was arrested and spent the remainder of his life in prison. Eusebius frequently visited Pamphilus and describes him with deep affection and as the most illustrious of the twelve Palestinian martyrs, the only one who had been ordained to the priesthood.9 When Pamphilus refused to sacrifice to the emperor, the city’s governor Urbanus endeavored to compel him to do so and subjected him to the severest tortures. His sides were scraped to the bone, a 4. Cf. Photius, Bibl. Cod. 119. 5. DCB 4.178. 6. Vir. ill. 75.2, FOTC 100, 107. 7. Cf. DCB 4.179; A. J. Carriker, The Library of Eusebius of Caesarea (Leiden: Brill, 2003). 8. Eusebius, HE 7.32.25. 9. Eusebius, Mart. Pal. 11.2. INTRODUCTION 5 treatment that was also meted out to one of his servants, named Porphyry, whose death preceded his own.10 In the seventh year of the persecution of Diocletian, Pamphilus was beheaded...