Origen — Wellsprings

Origen

184 CE–253 CE · Alexandria

Origen (c. 185–253/254 CE), born in Alexandria, was one of the most prolific and influential theologians of early Christianity, producing foundational works in biblical scholarship, textual criticism, and systematic theology, including the Hexapla, On First Principles, and Against Celsus. He directed the catechetical school in Alexandria until his forced departure around 231/232 CE, after which he settled in Caesarea Maritima, where he continued teaching and writing for the remainder of his active life. He died around 253–254 CE, likely in Tyre, after enduring torture during the Decian persecution.

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Did you know?

A third-century scholar built a six-column Bible by hand
Around 235–245 CE, the Alexandrian scholar Origen laid out the Old Testament in six parallel columns — the Hebrew text, that same text spelled in Greek letters, and four different Greek translations side by side — so readers could compare them line for line. The result, called the Hexapla, was so enormous, by some estimates several thousand pages across dozens of volumes, that it was likely never fully copied; the original was eventually lost.
How we know
Origen c.184–253 CE; the Hexapla compiled c.235–245 CE at Caesarea, in six columns (Hebrew; Hebrew in Greek letters; and the Greek versions of Aquila, Symmachus, the Septuagint, and Theodotion). Estimated at thousands of pages; probably never copied in full; the original was lost.

Life journeyclick any stop, or use ←/→Trace on the map →

Stop 1 of 5185–215Birthplace, School Director

AlexandriaEgypt

What they did here

Born in Alexandria and raised there; directed the city's catechetical school for roughly two decades before being expelled by Bishop Demetrius following his irregular ordination abroad.

Alexandria in this era

Under Roman imperial rule, Alexandria hosted the Catechetical School (Didascaleion), where Clement and then Origen turned the city into early Christianity's foremost theological workshop, pioneering allegorical Scripture interpretation and systematic theology in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries.

About Alexandria

Alexandria (al-Iskandariyya) is the great Mediterranean port-city of northern Egypt, founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE and a leading centre of learning in antiquity. After the Muslim conquest of Egypt (642) it remained a major commercial and scholarly hub; the Shadhili Sufi Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari (d. 1309) took his nisba from the city, and the modernist reformer Muhammad Abduh (d. 1905) was active in Egypt's intellectual life there and in Cairo.

In Alexandria at the same time

Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Julius Africanus, St.

Across the traditions, in Alexandria at the same time

See other sages who lived in Alexandria→

In the same place & time

Sages whose lives overlapped with Origen’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.

Across the traditions

In the same tradition

Athenagoras, Clement of Alexandria, Julius Africanus, Hippolytus, Novatian, Gregory Thaumaturgus, Pope St. Zephyrinus, Minucius Felix, St.

The world in their lifetime

Thinkers, teachers, and rulers whose lives overlapped with Origen’s — a glimpse of the wider world they lived in. Drawn purely from recorded birth and death years.

Christian world

Jewish world

Graeco-Roman world

A third-century scholar built a six-column Bible by hand