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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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 is the main Mediterranean port of northern Egypt and the country's second city. Founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE, it became the capital of the Ptolemies, whose Museum and Great Library made it the leading centre of Hellenistic learning. It also held one of the largest Jewish communities of antiquity, where the Greek Bible translation known as the Septuagint was produced and Philo wrote. Church tradition traces its patriarchate to Mark the Evangelist, and its catechetical school was led by Clement and Origen. Arab forces under Amr ibn al-As took the city in 641, and it remained a commercial and scholarly hub of the Islamic world; the Sufi master Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari was born there.

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, Zephyrinus, Bishop of Rome, Minucius Felix, St.

The world in their lifetime

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