Origen of Alexandria: Two Facts

Origen had his errors but “Universal Restoration or Reconciliation in Christ is not one of it” (fact 1) and “neither did it originate from him” (fact 2 —> as often falsely fed to the ‘unlearned’ masses at the very mention of his name).

Little do Christians themselves know of his amazing Christian life till his death as a martyr after 4 years of torture at age 69. Eusebius, the ‘father of church history’ himself says regarding Origen’s devotion to Christ:

“As his doctrine, so was his life; and as his life, so also was his doctrine”.

Here are some quotes from “history-experts” themselves regarding Origen of Alexandria (whose nickname “Admantius” meant “man of steel”):

“If any man deserves to stand first in the catalogue of saints and martyrs, and the be annually held up as an example to Christians, this is the man, for except the apostles of Jesus Christ, and their companions, I know of no one among all those enrolled and honored as saints who excel him in virtue and holiness.” Mosheim, Hist. Com. in Christ, before Constantine, ii, p. 149.

“It is impossible to deny a respectful sympathy to this extraordinary man, who, with all his brilliant talents, and a host of enthusiastic friends and admirers, was driven from his country, stripped of his sacred office, excommunicated from a part of the church, then thrown into a dungeon, loaded with chains, racked by torture, doomed to drag his aged frame and dislocated limbs in pain and poverty, and long after his death to have his memory branded, his name anathematized, and his salvation denied; but who, nevertheless, did more than all his enemies combined to advance the cause of sacred learning, to refute and convert heathens and heretics, and to make the church respected in the eyes of the world. Origen was the greatest scholar of his age, and the most learned and gracious of all the ante-Nicene fathers.” –Schaff, History of the Christian Church, I, pp. 54-55.

“We know no man in the whole Christian era, except St. Paul, who labored so incessantly, and rendered to the church such immearsurable services. We know of no man, except St. Paul, who had to suffer from such black and bitter ingratitude. He, the converter of the heathen, the strengthener of the martyrs, the profoundest of Christian teachers, the greatest and most learned of the interpreters of Scripture–he to whom kings and bishops and philosophers had been proud to listen–he who had refuted the ablest of all the assailants of Christianity.–He who had founded the first school of Biblical exegesis and Biblical linguistics–he who had done more for the honor and the knowledge of the Oracles of God not only than all his assailants (for that is not saying much), but than all the then bishops and writers of the church put together–he who had known the Scriptures from infancy, who had vainly tried to grasp in boyhood the crown of martyrdom, who had been the honored teacher of saints, who had been all his life long a confessor–he in the very errors of whose life was more of nobleness than in the whole lives of his assailants,–who had lived a life more apostolic, who did more and suffered more for the truth of Christ than any man after the first century of our era, and whose accurately measurable services stand all but unapproachable by all the centuries–I, for one, will never mention the name of Origen without the love, and the admiration, and the reverence due to one of the greatest and one of the best of the saints of God.” –F.W. Farrar

“His character was as transparent as his life was blameless; there are few church fathers whose biography leaves so pure an impression on the reader. The atmosphere around him was a dangerous one for a philosopher and theologian to breathe, but he kept his spiritual health unimpaired and even his sense of truth suffered less injury than was the case with most of his contemporaries.” — The Encyclopedia Britannica, Prof. Adolf Harnack

P/S:

Remember,
“Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of
sins.” – apostle Peter in (1 Peter 4:8)

“A friend of Christ is a friend of mine”