Against Celsus (Contra Celsum)
Origen of Alexandria · c. 248 AD
Ante-Nicene Fathers (Roberts–Donaldson), Roberts, Donaldson, and Coxe (eds.), Ante-Nicene Fathers, Buffalo: Christian Literature Publishing, 1885–1887; digitized by CCEL.
Adamantios; the most prolific and learned ante-Nicene theologian. Successor to St Clement at the Alexandrian catechetical school, exegete of the entire Bible (he composed the Hexapla, a six-column comparative edition of the Old Testament), apologist (Contra Celsum), and systematic theologian (De Principiis). His influence on the Cappadocians, St Maximus the Confessor, and the wider tradition is incalculable. However, his speculative theology — particularly the pre-existence of souls and a strong form of universal restoration (apokatastasis) — was the subject of the Fifteen Anathemas Against Origenism affirmed at the Fifth Ecumenical Council (Constantinople II, 553). The Orthodox Church does not commemorate him as a saint and reads him critically. His biblical commentaries, Contra Celsum, On Prayer, and Exhortation to Martyrdom remain widely esteemed; De Principiis must be read with discernment.