Would castrating oneself be something students would find desirable? Would this help attract students?Īt that time a catechumen was a person who was interested in Christianity and was engaged in learning enough about it to make an informed decision before being baptized which would (at least in theory) result in a radical change in the catechumen’s lifestyle. One of the traditions of philosophy was that teachers should inspire students to want to emulate them. This school was operated as a philosophical branch. OK, Origen was a teacher in the Church, educating catechumens at the Catechetical School of Alexandria, which he revived while a young man. I’m going to do this by examining two areas his role within the Church and his writings. However I want to explain why I consider Origen’s self-castration to be unlikely.
There’s no “the answer” unless someone finds where Origen was buried, can definitively prove it was him, and finds testicles(and I suppose to really remove doubt DNA would have to show that the testicles belonged to the rest of the body). Demetrius could have made this up but we have no evidence of this other than the fact that Origen had enemies(this could have been invented by someone else and then used by Demetrius). The story would have had an added benefit of keeping Origen away because even if the story wasn’t true, it would be a pretty good indication of what he’d face if he returned. Someone could have spread this story around, once Origen was in Caesarea and not on hand to be examined, or engage in public flashing, to dispute it. Religious conflict could be messy and Alexandria would later develop a reputation as a place where things could get particularly dirty. So was this story invented? It’s a plausible theory. Eusebius specifically attributes the story getting out to the Alexandrian Bishop who, as he was nearing death, seems to have developed a hatred of Origen.
MEDIEVAL MANUSCRIPTS WITH PICTURES OF SELF CASTRATION FREE
In looking at Origen’s self-distesticulation, which was certainly a no-no for Christians, especially for priests who were expected to be free of blemishes, the discussion has to center upon the possibility that this was an invention of his critics, particularly Demetrius. There he was ordained as a priest, which Demetrius opposed and wrote against, and stayed there for the rest of his life, preaching and writing. At some point Origen’s teaching turned into actual preaching (I’m a bit fuzzy on the distinction myself) which Demetrius opposed.Īs a result, around 230 Origen was driven out of Alexandria and moved to Caesarea. As an educated layperson, Origen was qualified to give instruction to catechumens which he did, as well as write.
His career began in Alexandria where he quickly became a favorite of the Bishop, Demetrius. Origen was the son of a prominent Christian who was martyred around the start of the third century. So as sort of a warmup to discussing Origen’s theology I thought it would be interesting to explore this question Did Origen castrate himself?Ī fair amount of this will involve a discussion of Origen’s life so I guess I might as well include relevant parts of his biography.
In his Ecclesiastical History, VI.8 he relates how Origen decided to, er, separate himself from his sexual bits because he either misread scripture or because he was teaching female catechumens and wanted to either be free from temptation or let everyone know that it was impossible for any hanky-panky to be going on, or maybe a combination of the two. Carl Pyrdum on his (now defunct?) blog, Got Medieval, has a brief discussion of this which includes an image of Origen and his severed genitalia(I decided not to include an image here). The story that Origen, in a fit of piety, castrated himself, was well known during the Middle Ages.